World Of Chances
by Shade Penn
Summary: Fusion Fic of the Superman mythos and the Transformers verse. When Krypton exploded, the earth had still been young, and the survivors had been asleep for many years, some still asleep, but now things are starting to pick up after Maggie Madsen finds the ship that brought them to earth. No OCs. M/M, F/F, F/M, Cybertronian/Kryptonian relations.
1. Six Degrees Of Separation

**Chapter 1: Six Degrees of Separation **

Ever since he was little, his mother had always told him 'be careful, never lose your temper, and never touch anyone because you might hurt them.' Granted, he assumed that most parents would have just felt satisfactory with giving their kid a 'behave' warning, but his mother couldn't.

It was because they were too different that _neither_ of them could relax around others.

His mother had wanted to homeschool him in the beginning, but he'd insisted that he wanted to go to school with the other kids, even before he could run faster and was stronger than a normal human was. His mother had eventually relented, and that's where the three rules had come in.

Jack Darby could recite them by heart that he heard them so often growing up, and his mother had a good reason to say it over and over too. Neither of them was human, and like his Autobot friends, they were aliens too.

He'd always _known_ was he was, but he'd never known that there were _other_ aliens out there too, and yet he'd made a promise to his mother that he wouldn't tell anyone what he was, them included.

Jack had asked June once what their home planet Krypton was like before it blew up, and June had answered him, though there was always this pained, wistful look on her face and he knew that she was thinking about his father as well. He'd never known his father, having died before he was even _born_, but his mother had told him it was him who saved them from dying with the rest of their planet.

She had also told him of other Kryptonians that had been saved with them, but she didn't know where they were as she presumed the ship they left in been a bit battered by the asteroid belt around the earth and the ship's automatic piloting system had deployed the suspended animation pods they were each in.

All June could tell him really was that she remembered waking up after her own pod had crashed in the desert and when she found out she was pregnant, the rest was history. Although according to her own findings before her pod had been deployed, the earth had apparently been very young at the time, and Jack had no idea what that meant other than his mother must have been asleep for quite a while.

Jack had wondered about where that ship that was carrying them all could have crashed landed, he also thought about the Kryptonians that were probably on earth, his mother had said that the ship could unfortunately only store about 20 of them because time had been running short, so the ones that were sent to escape the destruction were only his mother and father's closest friends and family.

Family, he must have had other family members on earth somewhere, either walking around or still in suspended animation, still effectively dead to the world.

That particular thought made his gut wrench; how many of them _were _still in their pods? Jack knew that his mother had dearly wanted to go searching for them herself, but 'other matters' had presented itself and Jack knew all too well that when she said that he knew she meant him.

And yet she'd assure him that Kryptonians were tough, that the ones on earth were given powers beyond human comprehension and they _would_ still be alive, whether they were awake or not.

Still though, it had never stopped Jack from wondering just _where_ the other Kryptonians were.

* * *

"Aw, who's a good baby, you are! Yes you _are!_"

Sarah Lennox laughed as she playfully swatted her husband on the shoulder and held her other hand over his that was on her swollen stomach. "You know that the baby probably can't understand what you're saying, right?"

Will Lennox chuckled lightly as he stood up and hugged his wife; every time he did so making him so grateful that their pods had landed in the general vicinity of each other. He didn't know how he'd handle it if anything happened to Sarah, but he knew nothing _good_ would happen he was sure.

Despite having been married back on Krypton, they had opted for an earth-style wedding as well, to better hide them on this planet they were forced to inhabit. And they had hid rather well too, Will even going so far as to become a military solider, much like his station back on Krypton had been, while Sarah had decided to become an architect, also like her own station back on their home planet, though now she'd taken her maternity leave.

And she was _bored_.

"Oh, I've heard the other women talk about their bundles of joy, and all this free time had better be worth it." Sarah grumbled, her previously upbeat demeanour all but gone.

And if earth women got hormonal and moody, then it was much worse for a woman who could send you flying clear through a wall.

Will had learned that lesson when he'd poked fun at the fact she was so worked up about how bored she was going to get with her maternity leave. Note to self; never again say anything like that, because even though he was pretty much invincible under the yellow sun, as they both were, that it had still _hurt_; emotionally as well as it had physically.

"Will, do you ever think of how the others might be doing?" Sarah questioned, her tone abruptly turning somber and Will knew specifically what she was thinking about. "Some of the survivors were just children that their parents wanted to live." She whispered.

Will grabbed her hand in comfort. "If they're not awake, then they're still asleep, and all things considered, that's probably best for the time being."

"I still wonder…" Sarah trailed off as she wrapped her arms around her abdomen.

Will hugged her and kissed her hair. "I do too sometimes."

* * *

_'Aw man, even with super speed I still end up late._' Sephie Beller thought to herself as she stopped running at the entrance of the observatory. It had always amused her that here she was, an alien, taking a class in an _observatory_ that was looking for other life amongst the stars. The irony wore off quickly as she put on a cheerful smile and waltzed in, her trusty SmartPhone attached to her belt.

Never go anywhere without it; that's her motto and she's sticking to it.

"Hey girl, you're late again." Another one of the students said blandly and she rolled her eyes.

'_Thought my super speed would be enough, but it wasn't.'_ Sephie thought, but since she obviously couldn't _say_ that aloud, all she had to go with was, "My alarm clock broke."

After repeatedly smashing it with her fist that is.

Yeah, for all the love she had for technology, even the backwards electronics on this planet, she still felt guilty for destroying a measly alarm clock in a fit of morning rage.

"Okay students, you like, have your notebooks out?" Dr. Heath Blaisedale said from the podium, and even though she seemed a bit-a lot actually and _was-_ditzy, she was also incredible smart, one Krypton's top scientists to be exact.

And it just so happened that by chance she and Sephie had managed to find each other in this big world after everyone had been scattered, and when you found a missing piece you _didn't_ leave them. Not for _anything_.

So for the past 12 years they'd stayed together, hoping to keep finding the other Kryptonians, but so far no luck; and they'd kept moving around _a lot_ during those years to avoid suspicion about why they didn't seem to be growing any older. And soon they'd by leaving Arizona to another state after the semester was over.

As for _why_ they both chose to be a student and teacher is because despite having been a top graduate back at the school on Krypton, Sephie loved to learn, and despite Heath being a ditz, she loved to teach. This suited both their needs and they generally came home happy on a good day.

On a bad day it was silent as they tended to avoid each other so they wouldn't be tempted to lash out at the only thing that they knew_ wouldn't_ get hurt by their fists.

Or, hurt very much anyway.

* * *

The room was surprisingly warm in the little Californian home, but neither occupant really minded as they both sat at the table and ate their lunch. It was the weekend, but even if it _had_ been a school day, neither of them would have cared very much. To them, they'd already got enough of an education back on Krypton and they had never looked forward to any _more_ school.

Now though, they'd give anything to go down stairs and see their parents smiling faces and the red sky outside. They had only been awoken recently, and neither of them had been together.

They'd actually been reunited through a foster home and decided to run away. It's not likely their foster parents would've reported it anyway.

But every day they woke up, it always hurt to see that this wasn't all a dream and their home really _was_ gone.

Sometimes it got so bad that they would go days without eating just so they didn't have to leave their rooms. The only reason they actually left was because they got filthy and needed a wash. It's not like they even needed to eat anyway.

But it was a nice activity to give them something to do.

Speaking of something to do…

"Gotta go wash, Override." Miles Lancaster said abruptly as he rose from his seat and in a blur he had with him a pale, wax, soap, and a large wash rag.

As much as Miles loved his sister, Lori Lancaster suspected that her brother loved that _car_ even more. But then again, she really couldn't fault him for it. Since when you found a piece, you _never_ let it go, and none of them were ever going to be torn apart again.

They'd lost so much back on Krypton and she could only hope the other survivors were as luckier than they were.

* * *

"Much to do about nothing." Aaron Blowthwaite muttered to himself as he stared at the blank computer screen, the clock on the bottom corner constantly reminding him of the deadline he had to meet, but what _could_ he write about dog shows?

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his frown deepening. Back on Krypton he's been one of _the_ best doctors, yet here he was, stuck on earth and forced to write for a _tabloid_. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Well, he _could_ have reapplied to be one here, but after seeing the crass instruments, he'd felt sick to his stomach and decided against it eventually.

But damn if he didn't miss his work.

Still, he could have woken up somewhere else than New York, at least the arts seemed to be sufficient in taste, one of his pleasures back on Krypton had been to see the art in Argo City, but that was all gone now, he thought bitterly and tried to push those memories back.

Even though being a writer had let him go around to other states as the editor demanded of him, he still couldn't find any of his fellow survivors. He wasn't being optimistic when he thought of the fact they _weren't_ dead, he knew very well that they wouldn't be dead, simply for being on earth and under the yellow sun.

The sun charged them up and gave them all incredible powers, but like much him, he knew that they were most likely hiding if they were awake.

He was still a doctor though, and he'd gladly work with such crude instruments to give them a check-up, he'd sworn an oath after all.

But oh how Aaron longed for the days when he could go into the office and be greeted by warm smiles, knowing that he was doing the right thing and making a difference. He could still do that here, but he'd given up that chance for _this_.

The man shook his head and rose from his seat, thinking that taking a quick run ought to clear his mind.

And it really was a shame he couldn't fly around instead of run, but since he knew that flying would attract _far_ too much attention in New York, running was his only option at the moment.

* * *

Maggie Madsen sat in her chair at the computer, one arm resting on the arm rest and the other rubbing her forehead as she found she probably had the most boring job she could have applied for. She felt like falling asleep as she looked at the non-flocculating lines of data.

If she was a normal human she would laughed at the thought of looking for other life, but as it were, she wasn't laughing. This also leant her the option of seeing if any signals that came in were part of an alien race she was familiar with. Because she had studied hard to learn from Krypton's most frequent visitors about their culture.

It was _fascinating_ to say the least.

Maggie suddenly saw the lines begin shifting and sat up in her seat as the symbols played across the screen, the same ones over and over. While anyone else might have seen gibberish, she saw something else.

_'It's a distress signal_.' Maggie thought and used the primitive keys to send a message back, and while the keys couldn't accommodate the Kryptonian language, she was still able to send at least a broken message back that was a rough translation of _location-systems-name?_

The message wasn't returned for almost 2 minutes and she let out a sigh of relief at the information she received, but incredulity as well when she found out _who_ was sending the distress signal. It made her stand up abruptly and quickly shut down the system after sending a message back of _coming-calm_.

Maggie checked the clock and saw that it was almost quitting time, so no one would find it suspicious if she punched out a little earlier, right? It's not like there were that many here anyway.

The blonde woman left the facility until she was sure that no one would see her before she started to run, and soon that run turned her into a blur not able to be seen by human eyes. She felt the loose strands of her hair whipping in her face and felt the rush of exhilaration come over her every time she ran.

It was nothing like flying, but it was close.

Maggie soon felt the slight change in temperature to suggest that she had arrived in the Arctic, but seeing as the cold _or_ heat didn't bother a Kryptonian, she didn't pay much attention to it and used her X-ray vision on the snowy ground to look around for the one who sent the message.

Her eyes soon zeroed in on one patch of ice and her eyes widened at the state he was in, thinking it was a miracle he was even able to send the signal and hurried over to the area, fully intent on getting him out of the ice. _"Skyfire!"_


	2. A Surprise Around Every Corner

**A/N: As I forgot to mention in my last chapter, I have been editing the chapters of their errors.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: A Surprise Around Every Corner**

Jack realized something as he was about to use his speed to get him to school. He couldn't use his powers in the garage because Arcee was _right there_.

Sure she'd been there for the past few days after the whole order with the space bridge and she'd taken on the duty of his guardian, but it never really hit him that he'd ever had to hide himself until now.

He was thankful his mother only felt the need to use her own powers _inside_ the house too, but if Arcee ever caught sight of her doing something a 'human' could not do, then she'd get suspicious and question him about it.

"You mind if I get to school on my own?" Jack asked earlier as he left through the garage.

"Sure, go ahead." Arcee had replied and Jack had nodded.

They might not really be on a nice and friendly level, but they were starting to get there; which is why he was so worried about this secret might do. But just like the Autobots, he and his mother had something to protect, themselves and every other Kryptonian.

And the best way to protect them was to act like they were like everyone else.

"Er, see you after then." Jack had mumbled before rushing out of the garage at a normal pace before glancing around to make sure no one was watching and then super speeded down the street, avoiding the people out and about and the cars on the road.

He barely even noticed when he passed a dark-haired woman and her head whipped around to stare after him in shock.

* * *

Sephie had started thinking of getting a head start on finding a new home, so she'd randomly picked a spot on a map before opening her eyes and found her finger was on the state of Nevada. She grinned as she took a sip of her morning coffee and realized that neither she nor Heath had been there before, so it meant they'd both have a new experience.

And they could gamble; that seemed like a bonus.

Sephie heard Heath come down the stairs in her lab coat and she smiled at her. "Guess what, honey? We now have a location to move to!"

Heath beamed back at her. "That's great, Sephie!" she exclaimed just as cheerfully.

The dark-haired woman had really come to like Heath's cheerful qualities, they were so much like her own and she found cheeriness in general an attractive trait. So it was a coincidence that they'd both ending up finding each other huh?

"Want me to go out and take a look around?" Sephie suggested.

Heath pouted a little. "Aw, I'd hope you'd walk me to class, isn't that what people do on this planet?"

Sephie shook her head. "Lovers do that, not _students and teachers_." It still amazed even her that they'd managed to keep anyone from finding out about them.

Not because they were the same sex, but because they _had_ both taken different educational opportunities. And that pesky stigma with teacher/student relationships certainly had added to the days they came home angry.

But still, they'd get through it and next semester they _wouldn't_ be in this position.

"But I'll see you later after your class." Sephie said give the redhead a quick hug and a peck on the cheek.

"Later." Heath murmured watching the other woman speed out of the house.

Sephie still heard her and smiled to herself as she ran through the streets and across the desert to the nowhere town of Jasper. She stopped running behind an alleyway and walked out at a human pace. She glanced around the town and from what she saw; it looked to be an ordinary town.

Just perfect-

Sephie whipped her head around as she saw a dark-haired teen run past her, at _super speed_. The woman took her previous thought back; this place might be more special than she thought. Sephie speeded after him, because screw discretion, she might have found one of the survivors.

"Kid, wait!" she called trying to catch up with him.

The teen looked back in surprise and his expression turned to shock, but not as much as Sephie's when she saw she was looking at a younger version of her brother-in-law. The look-alike turned at the corner and ran to an open road where there was no one for miles.

"How are you doing that?" Was the first thing out of his mouth.

"How are _you?"_ Sephie shot back before disappointment set in. While he looked like her brother-in-law, it was obvious he wasn't one of the twenty. "You're not a survivor." She muttered.

The teen started. "A Kryptonian survivor you mean?" he asked and the woman stared at him. "You're right, I'm not, but my mom is though."

"You're mother?" Sephie questioned and felt her heart lift. With how much the boy resembled her brother-in-law; that could only mean one thing. "Jun-El is awake?"

Her_ sister_ had been awake all this time?

* * *

"Thank you."

Maggie paused as she finished putting the last tarp over Skyfire to give him time to warm up his systems so wouldn't need to rely on her for everything. "Don't mention it." She replied sincerely. "I'm just glad you're alright after all this time."

"I failed though; I ejected everyone because I was getting battered by a few meteors in the atmosphere." Skyfire replied in self-loathing. "The other Kryptonians, the Cybertronians who came with us too had to be ejected." He shook his helm, the sound of ice cracking with the motion. "I let you all down."

Maggie placed her hand on Skyfire's leg, or wherever his leg was under the tarps anyway. "You did the best you could and _got_ us here, you didn't fail."

"Thank you Mag-Gi, but I don't deserve your kindness." Skyfire replied.

"It's Maggie here." The blonde said absently. "And you do, you gave up just as much when you and the other Cybertronians decided to stay with us all on Krypton instead of going home. Krypton was just as much our home as it was yours."

"It truly was a beautiful planet, even with all the ice, but the red sunlight made up for it." Skyfire said as a dreamy quality came over his vocalizer.

"Yes, it was." Maggie agreed. "Do you happen to have the registry of who came with us again? A hundred years is a long time to remember everything." She said sheepishly.

"Of course I do, I can mark you down as found, but there are still 19 more Kryptonians and 3 more Cybertronians to find." Skyfire replied.

"Don't worry, really," Maggie said floating up to be eye-level with him and gave him a soft smile, "we'll find them and then we can all be together again; like it should have been when we discussed how to live on this planet."

"I hope then the others are as forgiving of me as you are."

* * *

"You know something honey, I think I've got an admirer." Will said humorously as he chopped up the vegetables for the soup that he and Sarah were having for dinner.

Sarah looked up from her sketch book, where she redrew the structures of Krypton so they could at least show their daughter what their home planet had _once_ looked like. "And you think it's funny and not creepy?" she asked incredulously. "I don't believe you Will-Len."

"It's not like they'll be able to _hurt_ me." Will replied huffing.

"That's not the point, imagine if you _didn't_ have the powers you do and see how situation might play out then." Sarah said logically and waited for the shoe to drop.

Will didn't disappoint as he stopped chopping momentarily. "You're right hone," he relented, "I gotta get this under control. The next time I see that red van I'll tell the driver to back off." He said nodding to himself.

The next afternoon, when Will was driving down the street back to his home, he caught sight of the red van behind him and took a left turn down the lone path, thinking that this creeper would follow. He was right.

"Look, I don't know who you think you are, but I don't appreciate being followed by a _stalker_." He hissed at the tinted windshield after getting out of his car and he restrained himself from letting his eyes flash red in annoyance.

There was no reply from the other vehicle, and Will, for a split second, lets his eyes flash white as he looked into the car, only to pull back in shock at what he saw.

Or rather at what he _didn'_t see.

"What the _hell?_" he exclaimed in surprise and only one thing came to mind. "Cybertronian, which one are you?"

"I suppose I shouldn't have startled you, but I was under the impression that you were smart." The Cybertronian retorted in a vaguely southern accent.

Will was hit with a flashback of a red mech who liked his guns and engaged in banter with him on occasion. He also remembered him being one of the 4 Cybertronians that had stayed on Krypton and left with them when the planet exploded. "Ironhide, is that really you?"

"It is Will-Len, or is it just Will now?" Ironhide questioned.

Well, Will was quite glad that other survivors were showing up, but he couldn't let go of this whole 'why are you stalking me thing.' And he asked about as much.

"I couldn't be sure, and I know you wouldn't take kindly to the fact someone was calling you and not talking. If you were a human you would have found this 'creepy.'" The mech replied.

"Hell, I'm not human and I _still_ would have found it creepy, _anyone_ would have." Will said crossing his arms. "Because it's so much better than following them around and freaking out their wives."

"You are mated?" Ironhide asked in surprise.

Will raised a brow. "I've _been_ married, back on Krypton with Sara Li-Nox." He explained. "Well, here her name is Sarah too, so…" he shrugged in a 'what can you do' gesture.

Ironhide was silent for a moment, seeming to be digesting this fact. "I never knew." He said simply. "But...good for you to have found each other here."

"Yeah, it was the strangest thing too; we just woke up with miles of our pods." Will said smiling slightly. "It was almost like we were supposed to find each other." He said wistfully before coming out of his haze. "So you want to meet her? I'm sure she'd be glad to know that we're not alone as we think, once she gets over the whole stalking thing."

* * *

"So, how are things between you?" Lori asked conversationally as she looked between the dash board and her brother.

Miles grinned as he patted the steering wheel. "It's going great, a little strange in some ways, but we can get around that."

"Oh for the love of Rao, you're not having _sex_ are you?" Lori questioned feeling nauseated.

Miles blushed brightly and there was a sputter in the engines that was in no way Override being showy. "It'd be pretty hard for us to do that, and I'm not saying we are!" he explained hastily. "Geez, what are they teaching you in earth school."

"The same things they teach you." Lori shot back.

"Heads up you two; seems like we've got a drag racer." Override said quietly as Lori looked out the window at the flashy red sports car that drove up beside Override and honked. "Should we take it?"

Miles huffed. "Show this clown why you're the fastest." He boasted and Override sped down the street as an agreement of her own, the red sports car managing to keep up with them.

Lori narrowed her eyes as she felt her wonky X-ray vision start up, showing to her disbelief that there was _no one_ behind the driver's seat. "Holy crap, it's a Cybertronian!" she shouted in surprise and Override pulled a sudden break to swerve in front of the vehicle, making them stop too.

"I don't recognize you," Override said without subtlety and with suspicion, "you obviously weren't here for very long then." She added musingly.

The other car seemed to be in some sort of shock before speaking with a smarmy tone that was meant to be charming. "Just arrived pretty femme, you got a designation? I'm called _Knock Out._"

Miles and Lori glanced at each other and the blond rolled his eyes as he rolled down the window and lifted himself up through it while the femme said, "Override."

"And she's already _got_ a special friend, so back off." Miles added glaring, his eyes flashing red in warning. Sure, lust had been what originally made his heat vision start up when he grew attracted to Override, but now he could control it enough to show when he wanted to be threatening.

Lori opened the door and decided to play mediator since her brother didn't look like he wanted to play nice at the moment. "Now, I'm sure we can talk like _civilized_ aliens…"

"You're both aliens?" The red mech questioned and abruptly went silent before speaking with something akin to disbelief. "_Kryptonians?_ Some of you actually _survived?_"

"What's that supposed to-"

Lori sped around to Miles' side and reached up to clamp a hand over his mouth so he couldn't get their only source of updated information offended and leave. Back in the day, Krypton and Cybertron had been tight, which was the entire reason their metal friends had chosen to stay with them and why they chose to _leave_ with them.

"Uh," she started off nervously, "what do you know anyway?" she questioned. "'Cause we can't exactly get information here since we woke up three years ago."

"You've been asleep all this time?" The mech, Knock Out, shot back incredulously. "Well that certainly explains a few things, but if you must know, follow me to someplace a little more private." He added suavely, no doubt for Override, before swerving on his tires.

Miles glanced down at Lori as he sat back in his seat. "Why did I just feel my skin crawl? We should not go with him, no matter what information he can give us."

Lori raised a brow. "Override?"

"We're going." The femme said and the dark-haired girl smirked as she got back into her own seat.

"Two to one, you lose bro."

* * *

Apparently since his editor liked his review so much on the dog show, Aaron was sent out to Arizona to review the scenic view. Only now that he was here, he realized there wasn't much to look at besides maybe the buildings old world style to them.

He walked around the college campus as he was given permission to scope around, his winning smile being just something else a person could appreciate. He _knew_ he was incredibly attractive, all the Kryptonians were-he winced at the past tense-but here his striking appearance seemed to stand out more.

Aaron stopped dead in his tracks as a voice reached his ears, one that he never thought he'd hear again. "_Now class, if you'll like, turn your attention to the board, you'll like see the lesson plan for the exam."_

The brown-haired man looked around and deeming that the coast was clear, he sped towards the source of the voice. He stopped just outside a classroom and knocked, putting on a smile as the door opened and he came face to face with one of Krypton's most brilliant scientists-barring the rather vapid attitude-Blaise-He.

"Dr. Blu-Ion!" Blaise-He, or as her desk top accessory dictated: Heath Blaisedale. "You're alive." She whispered.

"As are you." Aaron said evenly and Heath looked back at her class.

"Like, everyone dismissed." She announced and the students moved out of their seats. Once everyone was gone, she looked both ways outside the room and pulled Aaron in and into a tight hug. "Oh, you had no idea how long, like, we thought no one else was awake."

"_We?"_ Aaron questioned patting Heath on the back.

"Sephie-El." Heath replied and Aaron pulled her back, looking at her face incredulously.

"And El is awake?" he questioned. "What about her sisters?"

Heath shook her head. "We haven't found Jun or Jessie yet."

Aaron shrank back in disappoint, but he still smiled. "But at least we're one step closer to finding everyone, right?"

Heath smiled back vapidly. "That's the spirit!" she paused in embarrassment. "Say, what _is_ your earth name anyway?"

Aaron rolled his eyes before pulling Heath back into the hug. "You haven't changed a bit."

* * *

_"Sir, sir! We found something in the ground!"_

Starscream sneered as he looked down at the console where the voice was coming from one of the Vehicons that had been sent out to scout for energon mines. "Oh, and what is it? Some interesting pile of rock?"

"_It's an escape pod_!" The Vehicon replied urgently and the seeker's back straightened.

"What does it look like?" he demanded an a klik later the picture of a grimy but cleared pod appeared, the dirt having been cleared away from the glass to show a young girl with short brown hair. He didn't recognize the girl, but he _did_ recognize the markings on the pod. "_Kryptonian_." He hissed under his breath and raised his voice. "Bring the pod in, but _do not damage it!_ Or there will be consequences, understood?"

"_Yes sir!"_ The Vehicon shouted and the comm went dead.

Starscream turned around and reeled back as he saw Soundwave standing there. "Soundwave, how long have you been standing there?"

"_Kryptonian."_ A recording of Starscream's own voice answered and the seeker scowled.

"Yes, yes, I very well know that Krypton had blown up and there were thought to be no survivors, but clearly there _were_." Starscream said gesturing to the screen that showed the picture of the girl in suspended animation. "But should we find more, they don't _know_ about the war as the planet exploded just as the Great War was starting." He explained.

Soundwave didn't reply as the screen he had for a face showed three children, but the picture zoned in on the tallest one with black hair and blue eyes.

"It's an earth boy, so what?" Starscream snapped before Soundwave brought up a dual image of a woman with the same black hair and blue eyes, her facial features softer than the boy's but the resemblance was still too close to be coincidental. "Where did you get that picture?" he hissed as he kept the holograph of Jun-El under a strict security code.

But this was _Soundwave_, security codes meant little to him.

"Are you suggesting that…these two are…" Starscream trailed off as he closely examined the two images and gritted his denta. "She's alive and her son is with the Autobots. Did he exhibit any signs of power when you took this photo?"

Soundwave remained silent so Starscream assumed he meant no.

"Either this boy isn't old enough or he's hiding his powers," Starscream mused and his voice changed in realization, "which means that the Autobots have no idea w_ho_ they have!" he cackled in delight. "Oh this changes things. If he hasn't told his Autobots then this is perfect to search for other Kryptonians that may be here. _He_ may know about the war, but _they_ will not."

This really was to perfect.


	3. Calling All Space People

**Chapter 3: "Calling All Space People"**

Earth was a large planet, and the chances of meeting someone you wanted to were slim, so Sephie was reeling from the fact that not only was one of her sisters was awake, but had a _son._ And if this boy didn't look so much like her deceased brother-in-law, she would have thought Jun really _had _native.

She didn't know if hybrids were possible, but she wasn't really interested in finding out since she had Heath.

"You know my mom?" The boy asked again, his expression mirroring her own look of shocked disbelief and awe.

Sephie straightened up; the boy had failed to answer her question the first time, so she decided to take control of the situation. She really was the laid back one, not to mention the most cheerful, so she really didn't like having to be serious. "I am Sephie-El, the younger sister of Jun-El, so tell me, what is your name?"

The boy stared at her more before shaking his head and began sputtering, like he was trying to speak but the words were all jumbled up. "I-I'm Jack Darby," he said coherently, "and your my aunt?"

"Where is Jun-El?" Sephie questioned.

"At work, she's a nurse." Jack replied dazedly and his expression grew even more mystified as Sephie sped over to him, no doubt moving slowly by his own vision as she grabbed his arm. "You're really a Kryptonian survivor." He stated, not questioned, so Sephie didn't reply to it.

She did though cast off the serious aura and grinned cheerily, the thrill of seeing her sister taking precedent and pulled the boy into a hug. "Show me where my sister works, I wish to see her, my nephew."

Jack blinked before awkwardly patting the woman on the back, but now that he could see her features more closely, she _did_ look like his mother, only with dark eyes instead of blue, and her skin was paler. "So which one are you then? My mom mentioned she had two sisters once."

"I am the middle child." Sephie answered ruefully. "Jun is the oldest, and Jessie is the youngest." She pulled back but kept her grip on Jack. "Now take me to my sister." She demanded cheerily.

Jack blinked again, but complied as he led her down the street and towards the hospital. He hoped his mother could handle the shock better than he did.

* * *

Nurse Darby walked down the hall after being called to report to the front desk on the intercom. Who could want her attention so early in the morning? Had Jack needed some lunch money? She brushed the idea off though as neither of them actually _needed_ to eat as the sun provided all the real sustenance for them.

As long as the yellow sun 'lived' then they did too. They'd done their homework before coming here after all.

June arrived at the front desk, smiling at her son before seeing the person with him and a look of shock crossed over her face. _It just couldn't be!_ She tried to speak several times, but nothing came out.

Sephie had the audacity to grin. "Yeah, Jack here did the same thing when we met earlier." Jack flushed in embarrassment as the woman ruffled his hair.

June would know that cheeky retort from anywhere and her mind finally caught up with her mouth. "Sephie? Is that really you?"

The other woman's face grew unnaturally serious for a change. "It is Jun-El."

June glanced around before pulling both Sephie and Jack down the hall where no one would be able to overhear their conversation. "It's just June now," she started off absently, "is anyone else awake?"

"Blaise-He." Sephie said with a fond smile. "Though she chose the name Heath for some reason as I was led to believe it was a boy's name."

"It is a boy's name." Jack said smirking slightly and Sephie glanced over at him, another grin tugging at her lips.

"Then I shall enjoy lording this over her later." She said before abruptly pulling June into a hug and Jack looked away to allow his mother to have a reunion moment. "I have missed you big sister, now we just need to find Jessie and we can then work on finding everyone else."

"Always the optimist." June replied hugging her sister back, but said it fondly as she knew optimism is exactly what they were going to need once she laid down the facts. "You know we can't just drop everything, right? I have work, and Jack has school." She froze as she looked over at Jack. "You, Mr. should be _at_ school now." she said sternly.

Jack flushed again, this time in shame. "Right, uh, I'll be going then." He said softly before doing a quick glance around and sped out of the building.

June shook her head and pulled back. "So have long have you been awake?"

"12 years." Sephie said dreamily. "12 wonderful, all things considered, years with Heath."

June blinked at that. "Are you and Heath…uh, together?" Sephie grinned sheepishly and nodded. "Then I suppose I have to meet this woman and give her a stern talking to about treating you right, huh? Just like," her smile turned bland, "just like dad used to do with Jessie and her dates, right?"

Sephie chuckled. "Yeah," her smile turned morose, "boy do I miss them. All of them."

"Cheer up Sephie," June said patting the woman on the shoulder, "we'll find them, just keep up that optimism and we _can't_ fail." She said chuckling.

Sephie gave her sister a pinched look before rolling her eyes. This was the type of breezy banter she missed dearly.

* * *

"You know, I really should be angry, since you're my husband's ex and all, and that you're following him, but I really can't bring myself to care." Sarah deadpanned as she looked from the red mech to her husband, who was grinning sheepishly.

"Well surprise then." Will replied giving her a kiss on the cheek and the red mech cringed.

He still found it strange that Will had mated with her. He hadn't even known they _had_ back on Krypton and had only met up with them when Will told him of the impending danger. How could he have not seen it? "You have gotten…" he trailed off, not really sure of how to say what he wanted to without angering her, "did you do something with your hair?"

Hey, it seemed to be the standard awkward breaking thing, or close enough.

Sarah raised a brow before putting her hands on her swollen stomach. "I'm going to have a baby, Ironhide, I'm not going to be offended if you say it."

Ironhide doubted that very much, especially when Will shook his head rapidly. "Whatever you say." He said decided on telling her that.

"And you; don't think I didn't see that." Sarah said giving Will a stern glare.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Will rebuffed before innocently leading his wife inside. "Why don't you go rest? Yellow sun or not, this kid's probably taking it's toll on you."

Sara smacked Will in the arm. "You just want to catch up some more with Ironhide." She said shaking her head. "Fine, but remember who you married." She said heading inside.

"I will." Will promised before closing the door and smiled up at Ironhide. "So tell me again, where exactly did you leave off?"

"Hmm? Oh right, I was just telling you about this mech I knew, a data clerk I knew back in the day called Orion Pax…"

* * *

"This is ridiculous." Miles hissed as he, Lori and Override followed this Knock Out mech through an abandoned parking lot. He honestly didn't take the mech for staying in such a shabby place. "You live here?"

"Is it our…temporary home you could say, at least until…" The red sports car trailed off, suddenly unwilling to say more. These Kryptonians and one pretty femme didn't _know_ about the war after all, they still thought that Cybertron was peaceful and united.

So how to spin this in a way that made it seem like the side to be on was the Decepticons?

"I really don't know how to say this," he began glibly, "but just like your beloved Krypton, Cybertron is also gone, a barren wasteland ravaged by war."

The three of them glanced at each other, the femme tensing up. "What do you mean Cybertron is gone too? How could war have broken out?"

Knock Out smirked before quickly covering it up with a grimace. "It all started because of the oppressive Autobots…" So he spun a tale of half-truths to the three, knowing that they didn't have any source of information to turn to for confirmation. The blond male didn't look all that impressed, but he assumed that it was because of the fact he tried to hit on his _mate_, but the femmes looked like they believed him, and that was enough for the male it seemed.

"This is awful," The Kryptonian female said shaking her head, "we really can't go back can we?"

The blond though looked the least affected, probably by putting up some bravado of some kind to hide his emotions. "It'll be okay, we've lasted the last three years here after all."

"Three years? You've been awake for only three years on this planet? I'd assumed merely _one_ would be enough to drive us crazy." The red mech said theatrically.

Miles rolled his eyes. "As backwards as this planet is, it still provides an adequate cover to make it bearable."

Lori glanced between her brother and the red mech he was being rather belligerent with. "Gee Miles, I thought Override was your one true love." She deadpanned.

Miles flushed as he smacked her on the arm. "Quiet you." He said darkly.

After all, just because you were less than friendly with someone did _not_ mean you had a crush on them, and he certainly did not like this pompous mech one bit!

They had just met after all.

* * *

Maggie looked down in awe before sending her grateful expression Skyfire's way. She tentatively picked up a blue crystal with the stylized 'S' shield on it. "How did you ever manage to save these things?" she knew she wouldn't be able to use the crystal which held the Fortress of Solitude, as it was keyed to only El DNA, but everything else she could operate.

Skyfire's faceplate shifted to one of vague embarrassment. "Before I crashed into the ice, I managed to store them in subspace, unfortunately not thinking about putting your pods into subspace either."

Maggie looked up at him. "Still, you did what you could, and that's enough." She said picking up a small data pad. "You even saved the rooster!" she beamed at him.

Skyfire looked away, feeling even more embarrassed. "It was nothing, really." He said humbly.

Maggie's smile widened before looking down at the glowing pad and search through it. She marked herself and Skyfire on the accounted for list. "I'm…" she paused before pressing. "I'm going to send out a signal like you did, but a high-pitched frequency one so that only the other Kryptonians can hear it clearly. We need to see if they're awake."

"That could be very dangerous, what if someone _else_ picks it up?" Skyfire questioned.

"I have to take that chance." Maggie replied before patting the mech on the leg. "You just rest, I'll be back after work." She said before leaving through the sealed off warehouse that she'd gotten a lease on. Skyfire still needed to be fully functional before she was ready to let him wander.

The blonde sped to work, hoping she wasn't late for her shift and amiably greeted those she passed, painfully aware of her own attractive appearance, but as long as no one bothered her about it she didn't mind. It was actually the reason the Kryptonians had liked the Cybertronians in the first place and offered to be united planets, because the metal beings hadn't gushed stupidly over the inhuman beauty the organic aliens possessed.

Maggie sat down at her station and glanced around to make sure no one else was in the room before she started on the broadcast and once she was sure the frequency was right, she paused nervously before speaking into the microphone…

* * *

_"Calling all space people…"_

Around the world, those with the ability to hear above the human level all paused in what they were doing and listened to the unmistakable voice of the former language and culture buff.

_"This is Mag-Gi, Skyfire and I are okay, in fact, I just found him recently…"_

In Jasper, both June and Sephie sighed in relief to hear that their friends were okay.

In Arizona, Heath and Aaron patiently waited for Mag-Gi to tell them where she was so they could go get her and Skyfire.

In the Nemesis, Starscream was waiting for the exact same thing as he listened to the captured frequency Soundwave picked up.

In California, Override relayed the message to Miles and Lori as their super hearing had not yet showed up in them, but the feeling of relief was mutual while Knock Out listened in morbid fascination that _more_ of them were awake and alive.

Not too far in the distance, the Lennox's and Ironhide listened to Mag-Gi's message with a sense of trepidation and relief. They were glad their fellow survivors were okay, they were also worried about who else might stumble across this message.

And in a silo in the Nevada desert, Optimus listened to the message, unsure about how to exactly feel about this. The Decepticons were no doubt going to hear this, but to actually know that some of the Kryptonian had survived…

And then came the location they'd all been waiting for to go out and retrieve the survivors.

_"Skyfire is in a warehouse resting from his ordeal in the ice, we're both in Australia, the place I have called my home for the past 100 years. If you are awake and listening, please come. Mag-Gi, out."_

The race to find them, and the technology by extension, was now on.


	4. Rat Race

**Chapter 4: Rat Race**

_9:05, California_

"This sucks! Aunt Mags is all the way in freaking _Australia_ and we can't fly there damn it!" Miles shouted angry.

"And even if we did we don't know her _exact_ location, we might not be able to find her first." Lori added sullenly.

Override looked at both of them incredulously. "Am I really listening to you both? Just run!" she said before transforming back into vehicle mode. "And if you two don't care about your aunt, then I'll go try and find her myself then!"

Miles looked back at the femme. "She's right, Lori." He admitted. "This isn't about _us_; this is our _aunt_ we're talking about." He said before walking over to the femme and picked up the car. "Now I don't know about you, but it's time to go find Aunt Mags."

Lori bit her lip, still thinking about the fact they might not be able _to_ find her, but the least they could do was try. "Alright then." She said and glanced at the red mech. "You've like been, uh, a big help and all, so thanks." She said before sprinting, Miles following after her.

Knock Out watched them leave, but there was a smirk forming on his faceplate.

* * *

_Same Time, Lennox's Home_

"What do mean I have to stay here?!" Sarah yelled angrily as she followed Will out the door. "I'm just as capable of finding Mags as you are!"

Will held up his hands in placation. "I know, but I don't want anything to happen to you." He said and Sarah snorted. "And yes while I know that nothing _here_ can hurt you, I just don't want to take that chance. And you'll have 'Hide to keep you company."

Sarah narrowed her eyes at him as she held her stomach. "I'm not some fragile thing that's gonna break you know."

"Like I said, I know, but imagine if the situation were switched. If I was pregnant would you let _me_ go out on a potentially dangerous venture?" Will questioned.

Sarah gritted her teeth. "No, I'd want you to stay here and be safe." She glared at her husband. "Damn your logic." She hissed before stalking back inside.

Will knew he was going to be paying for this later and he looked over at Ironhide. "Please behave and don't fight with Sarah."

"She is your mate and I will be on my best behavior." The red mech promised and Will nodded.

"Thanks, you're a pal." He said before lifting himself into the air and flying up to avoid being seen by any human eyes and sped his way to Australia.

* * *

_9:00, Nevada_

As June and Sephie's eyes met, one thought was on their minds. "Mags is alive." They said in unison.

"So off to Australia then?" Sephie suggested, but June grimaced. "I'll take that as something's wrong."

"No one here is stupid and their already starting to get suspicious of me; they still seem to have a hard time believing that Jack is my _son_," June whispered, "and I really don't want to add to anything that'll get me found out."

"Right, so you can't very well just up and leave." Sephie said in understanding. "Though this certainly sucks."

June smile sadly before giving her sister another hug. "Just…go make sure Mags is safe. That's all I ask."

Sephie smiled back. "You always _were _the motherly type weren't you." She teased. "Hell, you even cared about _Jessie_ despite how she acted towards you."

"Forgive and forget." June replied shrugging.

"Well you're certainly more forgiving than me." Sephie said quietly, but sped out of the hospital before June could call her out on her jab for their third sister.

It seems even after all this time Sephie's rivalry with Jessie had not yet faded.

* * *

_9:02, Arizona_

"Say, Bla-er, _Heath_, do you happen to have any later classes?" Aaron questioned after they heard Mag-Gi's broadcast.

"No, not until 1 pm." Heath replied and seemed to be thinking along the same lines as he was. "If you're suggesting we go out and _find_ Mags…"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Aaron said curtly and smirked. "Shall we?"

"Very well." Heath said smiling beatifically. "Though I'm sure my lady love wouldn't like it if we went as anything other than friends."

"Your lady? Sephie?" Aaron questioned in mild surprise, but figured he shouldn't have been since the two _had_ been living together for most their time on earth presumably. "Okay then, though aside from the deadly, deadly creatures in Australia, I heard it is a nice place."

Heath raised a brow. "Really? I heard it was a deathtrap."

Aaron chuckled as he held the door open for Heath. "Then it's very appropriate that Mag-Gi landed there if that's the case."

* * *

_9:00, Nemesis_

"This is such an..._interesting_ development." Starscream said as he thought about the message he'd heard and watched the Vehicons start to clean away the dirt from the escape pod, although they made no move to open the hatch to wake up the girl inside. "One squadron of aerial drones will come with me, Soundwave, keep an audio out for any more of Mag-Gi's messages."

_"…Skyfire…okay…"_ Soundwave relayed.

"Yes, well, another Cybertronian to add to the cause will simply be an added bonus so to speak." Starscream replied nonchalantly as he really didn't want to elaborate on Skyfire, _especially_ with this mech present.

_"Commander Starscream, we are ready to deploy_."An aerial drone commed.

Starscream bit back the urge to correct them that it was _Lord_ Starscream, but more pressing matters took precedent at the moment. Making sure he had a copy of the girl in the pod's photo to ensure that Skyfire and Mag-Gi were _compliant_ should they show hesitance and would be more willing to go with _him_ as he had another one of Mag-Gi's Kryptonian survivors. The fact the girl was a _child_ would definitely do the trick to make them come with him.

He couldn't just 'play nice' with them, especially if the Autobots would likely be at this 'Australia.' Though they had Jun-El's son on their side, they didn't _know_ about him, so they had _nothing_ to offer if they found Mag-Gi and Skyfire first. And he was betting that the boy had no inclinations to _tell_ his 'allies' about what he was.

"We deploy in a klik." Starscream said over the comm before turning his attention to the Vehicons attending to the pod. "You are to make sure that no harm comes to this pod that could damage the Kryptonian inside, or I will rip your servos from your arm sockets, do I make myself clear?" he growled out and the two Vehicons nodded. The seeker smirked. "Good."

* * *

_9:00, Autobot Silo_

The Autobots were gathered by the ground bridge as Optimus started to explain why he had called them away from their human charges. "No doubt you all heard the message that one Mag-Gi sent out." He said and the 'Bots nodded, incredulity seemed to be on their faceplates. "We are to go help the Kryptonian survivor along with her Cybertronian companion."

"Didn't Krypton explode before the Great War even happen?" Arcee questioned.

"Yes, that is correct." Optimus said in agreement.

"And by that logic Starscream will no doubt try to take advantage of their confusion and draft them." Ratchet spoke as he put in the co-ordinates for the region Australia was located in. "Seeing as Mag-Gi gave no _specific_ location; all that can be done is to try at random." He said sourly, though could admit to the merit of what the Kryptonian did.

If she was going to be found, she was going to want to see who was coming.

The ground bridge glowed green in its activation. "Autobots," Optimus said and garnered the attention of his troops, "they may not be willing to trust us if we find them, so proceed with caution. I do not wish to find out if what they say about the abilities the Kryptonians gain under this earth's sun is true."

Without further need for instructions, the Autobots set out on their task at hand.

* * *

_9:06, Australia Communications Station_

Maggie knew that it would take more than a few minutes for her fellow survivors to find her, but she was willing to wait for them. She also knew she was being overly expectant for them to actually be awake, but she could drudge up enough optimism that they did at least hear her. It was in her mind prominently that no one would _also_ be able to find her right away as she'd be working for that time.

Whoops. Should have waited, but then again, the whole waiting deal would have driven her crazy. Being away from Skyfire was torture enough as she didn't know if he was getting any better. She hoped he was.

So for the next few hours until she could get to her break, she went back to being mind-numbingly bored anyway.

* * *

_11:39, Nevada_

Jack frowned in thought. It seemed like a lot was about to happen if Aunt Sephie showing up was any indication. He didn't try to understand why he was thinking of this, but he just knew that since other Kryptonians w_ere_ awake, then the truth about him was going to come out sooner or later.

And he had a choice of _when_ that was going to happen. He could either tell the 'Bots now and risk their doubt in his trustworthiness, or he could wait until later, which would put just that much more of a strain on things.

So either way he was screwed to put it bluntly.

"Hey Jack, whatcha doing?"

Jack most definitely didn't jump out of his seat by the fountain as he brooded, though again he'd totally denied that he brooded, and glanced up at Miko. "Thinking." He answered shortly.

"About what?" Miko questioned, like she was trying to get some information out of him.

Jack raised a brow, but decided to indulge her nonetheless until the girl got bored of sitting by him and left. He still didn't think much of her since she seemed to lack any survival instincts, or was that because Jack _grew up_ with his own set of survival skills already long ingrained in him? Eh, whatever; it didn't matter to him anyway.

"I'm thinking about whether I should tell the 'Bots I'm an alien from another planet." Jack deadpanned.

Miko stared at him before huffing and crossed her arms sulkily. "Fine, don't tell me then."

Jack was pleased to find out that the whole 'truth is harder to accept' thing really did seem to work on people, though he knew very well that this wouldn't work on the 'Bots as they'd _assume_ he was telling the truth and more than likely demand some proof. And _then_ the dubiousness would set in…

* * *

_10:15, California_

"So, it's been a while." Ironhide began somewhat awkwardly as he really wasn't sure how he should go about this.

Sarah stared back at him stonily as she sat on the porch. "Yes, it _has_." She said smirking, the irony in her voice quite clear. "I know that Will and you were a thing, but he never told me why you two broke it off."

"That's…personal." Ironhide said evasively. "It's between me and him, and though you are his mate, I'm sure _you_ can respect the need for privacy."

"Fair enough." Sarah admitted shrugging. No sense in drudging up things better left unsaid. And she was _soooo_ not jealous of him. "So…" she continued, finding this just as awkward as Ironhide did. "When did you wake up?"

"Sometime in the earth 50's." Ironhide replied. "You?"

"It was so long ago I don't think I could remember." Sarah said vaguely. "But I'd have to assume almost hundred years, just like with Mag-Gi." She shook her head. "Australia, I never would have thought to look their back then. But Will and I were otherwise…preoccupied."

"You don't have to flaunt your status, you got him."

"Yes, I know that."

* * *

_12:00, Australia_

Miles felt like kicking something after they searched through the warehouse and couldn't find Skyfire or Mag-Gi anywhere. Then again, Skyfire _wouldn't _be able to hide very easily in a warehouse, so they should have known something was up. He walked out and shook his head as the question seemed to be just off Lori's lips.

The girl's face fell. "You mean they aren't here _either_?"

"Cheer up little sis, they've got to be around here somewhere, your aunt _did _say that she put Skyfire in a warehouse." Override said.

Lori's shoulders were still slumped, but she did smile weakly. "I suppose your right." She said tentatively. "It's just that, after thinking we'd never see anyone else from our family, we find out Aunt Mags really _is_ awake…"

"I know." Miles said in understanding. "I feel the same way, but we have to keep looking. She's the only blood family we got, and if we find her, maybe we can find everyone else too."

"That's wishful thinking," Lori said dourly, "but it _is_ a nice thought."

* * *

_12:03_

Sephie would have kept on flying if she didn't fear detection, so running would have to do. Although she did keep using her X-ray vision on the warehouses to see if Skyfire was inside, but no luck on any of the ones she tried so far. So off she went. The dark-haired woman ran over the dry plane and couldn't even take the time to admire the landscape; she really should have brought a camera with her.

Sephie stopped at another warehouse-just how many were there here anyway?-and used her X-ray vision once again. She somewhat boredly was about to turn on her heel and take off from the fact her optimism had taken a hit and she was sure she wasn't going to find Skyfire or Mag in this one either, but she did a double take when she saw two forms inside.

Sephie felt her heart stop and made her way over to the door and pulled it aside, startling the two figures inside.

* * *

_12:00_

"What is that you're eating there?" Skyfire asked curiously.

Maggie smiled and swallowed the noodles. "Leftover spaghetti. It's surprisingly delicious when it's refried." She said and winced. "Do you want me to stop? I know it must be like I'm rubbing it in your face that you don't have any energon."

"No, I still have my reserves, and I don't think I _could_ drink any energon right now. Everything's still thawing out." Skyfire explained. "So what's the first course of action, my lady?"

Maggie shook her head with a wry grin. "I'm not royalty; you don't have to call me that you know."

"Yes, the El's have that honor." Skyfire said seriously and Maggie snorted at his tone. "But you are still a brilliant mind and deserved to be treated with the respect you deserve."

Maggie's smile turned sincere. "Aw, you're so sweet!" she said chuckling and turned her attention to the pieces of tech in front of her, picking up one in particular. "Should I try to see if the Eradicator still works?" she mused.

"Maggie, that is not a wise decision, it is a very dangerous weapon only to be used as a last resort, not on a whim." Skyfire pointed out.

Maggie pouted as she set the cube back down. "Yeah, I suppose so." She said before the door to the warehouse started to creak and it was pulled open, both she and Skyfire looking back at the figure in the doorway.

"Skyfire? Mag-Gi?"

"I don't believe this, is that really you?"

* * *

_12:03_

"I don't believe this, is that really you?"

Sephie couldn't contain her surprise; she felt herself rush forward and dragged the lost Kryptonian into her arms for a hug. "Blu!" she cried and reached out to pull Heath into the same hug.

"I can't believe it." Aaron said, his voice still dazed from seeing _Sephie-El_ awake and walking around. Sure, he knew that she was awake, but seeing her was something different. "How have you been?"

"Good." Sephie replied and let go out Aaron. "I see you've met Heath."

"Yeah, we like totally heard Mags' message and decided to go out and find her." Heath piped in, but pouted. "She's like, surprisingly hard to locate."

Sephie felt herself chuckle, her hopes rising after the blow the whole trip had taken on her self-esteem. "Well now that we're together, three must surely be better than _two_."

Aaron and Heath looked at each, finding it highly unlikely that three of them would be better at finding Mag-Gi, but they didn't want to rain on Sephie's good mood.

* * *

_12:03_

"I don't believe this, is that really you?"

Maggie smiled at the blond in the doorway. "Long time no see, huh Will?"


	5. Taking Sides

**Chapter 5: Taking Sides**

Maggie didn't resist the urge to hug Will, feeling just so happy to have finally found another survivor. "You heard my message then?" she asked excitedly.

Will nodded. "Sarah, Ironhide and I sure did. I had Sarah stay behind because of…personal reasons." He said smiling wryly.

Maggie raised a brow. "How did you manage that?" she asked and the other blond shrugged.

"Ironhide is awake too?" Skyfire questioned and Will nodded. "Is he well?"

"As well as can." The blond man replied. "Though we still haven't gotten around to talking about how he'd managed also to survive on this planet." He said shaking his head. "I was just so overwhelmed at seeing him that I didn't get around to asking. And then we got around to talking about the past..."

Maggie patted Will on the arm in understanding; having felt overwhelmed herself when she'd heard Skyfire's SOS. "I get it, have you heard from any of the others?" she asked and felt her shoulders slump when Will shook his head. "Oh."

"At least there are some awake." Skyfire pointed out in his own attempt to cheer Maggie up.

The woman paused momentarily before nodding at the mech. "You're right." She said and gathered up the tech laid out on the floor and put them into her knap sack. She bit her lip as she glanced up at Skyfire and placed one hand on him when she turned around to look at Will. "I can't leave him," she said softly, "Not until he's all thawed out enough to fly again, and even then it's gonna be somewhat suspicious." She muttered.

"You don't have to stay." Skyfire replied. "You've already done so much for me; I'll be fine until then."

Maggie felt torn between going with Will or staying with Skyfire. She knew that the mech would be okay, but what if something happened? "I'd carry you myself if a giant robot flying in the air wouldn't garner so much attention if we're spotted." She muttered.

Skyfire chuckled. "Really, go." He insisted. "If any of the others find me I'll explain the situation to them."

Maggie sighed and nodded. "Alright, but promise you'll still be here when I get back?" she said jokingly.

The mech snickered. "It's not like I'm in any position to go anywhere." He said and Will shook his head and looked at Maggie.

"Ready?"

Maggie gestured to the exit. "Let's get going, I wanna be back to see Skyfire before my shift starts back up."

Will froze. "Crap, I still gotta go to work too." He muttered. "And just when things were starting to look up." He said smirking.

Maggie snorted and gently knocked him upside the head. "Come on, I wanna see Sarah again. Wonder if she'll be surprised to see me after all this time."

Will glanced thoughtfully at the other blonde. '_Not as surprised as I'm sure you'll be once you see her.'_

* * *

Though she wasn't as hotheaded as her brother could be, Lori was starting to reach the end of her own rope and the frustration was getting to her. She could see it on both Miles and Override's faces that they thought they weren't going to be able to find Aunt Mags either, but they couldn't give up.

The sound of an engine loudly reached her ears and she saw Miles perk up, his face changing from gloomy to slightly less gloomy. "You hear that too right?"

"Duh." Miles rolled his eyes.

Lori scowled at him before looking up at Override. "There's a Cybertronian nearby. Maybe its Skyfire!" she exclaimed, but the sound of the engine roar expanded to include several other engines and her brow furrowed. "Okay, it's not Skyfire then." She said nervously and started to look around. "But where's it coming from?"

Miles glanced up and his eyes widened. "Up there!" he said pointing into the sky where several jets were flying overhead and circled around to come closer to where the three of them were. "Seekers?" he questioned in confusion.

"No," Lori said squinting, "only one looks like how I remember our own seeker friend looking like, the rest all look the same, colors and all." She said and her eyes widened at the bizarre notion. "Override, do you think you could recognize 'em?"

The red femme shrugged. "We grounders didn't associate much with the seekers. Pretty things sure, but they were also kind of snobs."

"Sounds like Jessie-El." Miles said dryly and Lori elbowed him sharply.

"Here they come." She said and was sure the fliers might be able to pick up what they were saying. She was also sure that the only reason the fliers were turning back was because Override made a pretty sure sign that they weren't humans, or they only noticed the femme.

The group of several same colored black and purple fliers landed with a seeker of prominently silver coloring. They transformed and the background fliers had no faces, only red screens, the silver one did though and looked over at the two teens briefly before looking at Override. "Greetings femme," he, and the voice was most definitely male, said, "are you perchance looking for a Mag-Gi and Skyfire?"

The trio glanced at each other before Override spoke. It was only polite since he had addressed her; hell, the reason he was probably only being polite being the fact she was a femme. "We are, Skyfire was the one who took us off Krypton, and Magi-Gi is their kin." She said gesturing to the teens by her pedes.

Looking away from the femme, the mech looked down at Miles and Lori. "Kryptonians." He said neutrally and his optics narrowed calculatingly.

"You're not one of those Autobots are you?" Miles questioned and the mech blinked, looking like he was not expecting that question.

"Of course not," he answered disdainfully, "I am Lord Starscream, leader of the Decepticons." He saw them glancing at each other. "What?"

"Knock Out told us that Megatron was the leader." Lori replied bluntly.

Starscream blinked again. "Knock Out is here?" he muttered to himself. "The information is outdated, for Megatron is no more." He pressed on. "But are you aware that the Autobots are in possession of one of your own?"

"What?!" Miles and Lori shouted in disbelief and fear.

"Yes, he has unfortunately been sucked in by the Autobots lies, but fear not, I managed to save another." Starscream said before showing them the hologram of the girl the Vehicons had found.

"Alexis!" Lori said in surprised relief. "Is she okay? Have you woken her up yet?" she demanded, her voice frantic.

Starscream raised an optic ridge at the urgency, but only used this to his own advantage. "We have yet to awaken her. I had intended on letting Mag-Gi know when we had found her, as my Kryptonian is…rusty."

Override's own optics narrowed. "Starscream you said your designation was? I think Skyfire mentioned you, said you had been a scientist and his partner."

"Lab partner." Starscream insisted, knowing what their minds would immediately go to.

"Sure, why not." Miles shrugged. "So what does this other survivor look like? A visual will let us know who it is."

"I do not have a visual of the one the Autobots have ensnared." Starscream lied. "But your survivor might be in need of some familiar faces when she awakes…why don't you follow me back to my ship?" he suggested like he'd just thought of it.

The trio looked around at each other before Miles spoke up again. "We can't just leave our aunt out here. And besides, none of us can fly yet."

"Go with him." Override said suddenly and both Miles and Lori looked up at her in surprise. "I'll keep looking for Mags, you both need to be there for Alexis." She explained and smiled in a sickeningly sweet way at the seeker. "And besides, it's not as if you have anything to worry about, right?" she said threateningly.

Knowing full well about the abilities of the Kryptonians, Starscream smirked back. "Of course, they are our guests after all."

"I'll be staying with Override, I can't leave my femme." Miles rebuked and Lori glared at him for his comment. "And you know Alexis kind of hates me ever since I chopped off her hair when we were kids. Who knows how she'll greet me with super powers. She'd probably throw me from the ship."

Lori paused in her glaring to snicker. "Yeah, you're right. And I wouldn't want to trouble you." She said sarcastically before walking over to the seeker. "Alright," she said placing her hand on her hips, "which one of you is taking me to your ship?"

Starscream stared at her momentarily before pointing at the Vehicon beside him. "You! Take…" he trailed off as he realized he didn't know _any_ of their names.

Lori blinked before flushing in embarrassment. "Oh," she said scratching the back of her head, "my name Lori Lan-Gi."

"Miles Lan-Gi." The blond supplied.

"Override." The femme added.

Starscream gave a quick nod before his voice turned authoritarian again. "You! Take Lori Lan to the ship and the Kryptonian girl is to be let out of the pod." He ordered and the Vehicon nodded before picking up Lori and taking flight. The seeker looked back at the femme and blond. "Now, I'm sure you're eager to continue the search for your Mag-Gi, we will provide assistance."

The better to garner trust from them, and to gain strong allies after all; the fact most of them were children never crossing his processor.

* * *

"What's the deal, Ratchet?" Was the first thing Miko said as she, Raf, and Jack walked into the silo. "How come we had to take the ground bridge?"

"Feel free to go right back _out_ of the ground bridge then." Ratchet said tersely.

"Come on, Miko, we have to get started on out science fair projects." Raf pointed out, but Miko wouldn't let up.

"Where did everyone go? Bulkhead wasn't there to pick me up." She said.

"Forgive us if we have more pressing matters to attend to than to be here for your amusement." Ratchet retorted.

Jack took this opportunity to speak up before Miko could annoy Ratchet more. "Please Ratchet, can you tell us?"

"'Can I?'" The medic repeated huffily before pausing. "Fine; we heard an SOS being sent out over your earth's satellite, it contained news of another Cybertronian-" he ignored Miko's gasp and continued-"and a Kryptonian."

Jack tried not to react upon hearing that. There was _another_ Kryptonian awake? And how did they know about the Cybertronians? "Why would they be together?" he asked conversationally.

Ratchet muttered something under his breath about earthlings before answering, "Before our Great War happened, Cybertron retained relations with a race of organics who look like humans, but were more advanced in technology than this planet's. Krypton was a planet of snow and crystal, their cities were admittedly beautiful, reminiscent of Cybertron's own Crystal City before it was bombed in the war," his tone had turned sour at that, "some Cybertronians liked the planet so much that they decided to stay on it, whether for the inhabitants or the technology varied on which, but it was a tragedy all the same when it exploded."

"It _exploded?"_ Raf questioned sharply. "But…planets can't do that."

Ratchet's optics darkened. "But they can, Krypton had orbited too close to their sun, and…well, needless to say everyone had been under the assumption all this time that there were no survivors."

"So what's this guy's name?" Miko questioned excitedly, Jack feeling mildly nauseated that Miko could be so blatantly care-free about hearing a planet _explode._

"The Cybertronian's name is Skyfire, but I am unsure if they are a mech or a femme, but the Kryptonian voice was female and her name is Mag-Gi." Ratchet replied. Pre-emptively he answered the next question. "The others all left to retrieve them before the Decepticons could, as Mag-Gi used a signal which was for any of her fellow Kryptonians to pick up, insinuating that there are most likely more of them here. And neither she nor Skyfire are aware of the war, so they could be easily swayed by the Decepticons."

"But why would the Decepticons even try to persuade someone _organic?"_ Raf asked. "Even if they are other aliens?"

"Though it was never tested, there have been documented cases on Krypton reporting that under a yellow sun the Kryptonians gain powerful abilities. While I myself would be fascinated to find out if this was true, I do not want to under the pretense of examining any of the damage that could be inflicted by them on an Autobot." Ratchet explained grimly. "They had been dangerous enough with their technology as it was."

Jack kept his face blank, not wanting to give anything away that this affected him. He had his whole life to hear about a place he'd never known, and he'd never be able to go to, and his mother didn't have any pictures. She told him that her belongings had been on the ship they'd taken. "Have long have they been aw-" he stopped himself, because if he gave away that they Kryptonians had merely been asleep, they'd ask how he _knew_ that-"here for?"

"Mag-Gi stated she'd been here for a hundred years and recently found Skyfire in ice." Ratchet replied. "Though how he had managed to survive would certainly be an advantage."

"A hundred years." Raf repeated. "She must be quite old by now."

"Yeah," Miko said and made a mock show of walking like a rickety old woman and her voice went grave, "so old." She said before laughing.

Jack gritted his teeth, wanting to snap that they wouldn't_ get_ old for a while, and the fact everyone else had been asleep meant they were in fact much older than Miko or Raf assumed. But he couldn't, because it was too suspicious.

A sudden thought hit him, making his fears rise: had his mother heard it? What if she went out to find Mag-Gi? Arcee knew what his mother looked like, and this could all go very bad. He might have just wrecked the 'Bots trust. The fear wasn't unfounded, but he tried to remain calm by telling himself that _hopefully_ they'd understand why he'd never told them about himself.

He was doing it to protect himself and his mother. The 'Bots were with the government, and his mother had made it very clear what she thought would happen if they were found out.

He just hoped his mother wasn't out there.

* * *

"I can't believe this." Heath said crossing her arms petulantly and pouted. "How can we still not find those two? What are they, invisible?" she paused thoughtfully and smiled. "I could whip something like that up if I wanted to."

Sephie and Aaron exchanged a glance. Best not to let Heath's mind wander off the task at hand. "Uh, honey, while I think you talking smart is sexy, we're in the middle of something right now."

Heath flushed and her smiled turned sheepish. "Oh, right. Sorry." She said and the three of them walked toward the exit of the warehouse they'd gone into.

But it was yet another dead end.

As they neared the exit, too late did they realize that something was amiss and the door slid back to reveal a large red and blue robot. For a moment they simply stared at each other.

"Well, this is awkward." Aaron said rubbing the back of his head.

"Look Sephie, it's a Cybertronian!" Heath pointed out brightly.

"Yes, Heath, I can see that." Sephie replied dryly.

"You know of us?" The red and blue robot said sounding stunned.

"Yeah, we're Kryptonians." Aaron explained. "But I don't recognize you from the others that came with us."

Before the red and blue mech could speak, a feminine voice spoke up, "Optimus sir, we haven't-" A silver faceplate froze as she saw the three organics. "Humans?"

"They claim to be Kryptonians." The red and blue mech, Optimus, said.

"Not claim, we _are."_ Heath retorted, her pout returning.

"Are you searching for Mag-Gi as well?" Optimus questioned.

Seeing no harm, Sephie answered, "Yes, we are. We caught the message Mags sent out and we came to find our friends."

"Why are you looking for them?" Aaron questioned a bit more skeptically.

"Because there has been much you are unaware of going on." Optimus replied grimly.

"Like a whole war for one thing." The blue femme added.

"What!" Sephie exclaimed. "What war? What are you talking about?!"

"There is much for you to be told, but I am afraid it will have to wait." Optimus said gravely. "We are looking for Skyfire and Mag-Gi, and we must find them before the Decepticons do."

"Decepticons?" Heath repeated. "Never heard of them."

"That's because they started the war after your planet exploded." The femme said harshly.

"Arcee…" The red and blue mech said before looking back at the trio. "Will you allow us to assist you?"

The trio looked at each other, their expression vaguely uneasy, but figured that if anything happened that they could just get away. "Sure, but we should probably introduce ourselves. I am Sephie-El, but here I am known as Sephie Beller." The dark-haired woman said.

"My name Blu-Ion, but my name here is Aaron Blowthwaite." Aaron added.

Heath smiled brightly again. "And I'm Blaise-He, but my earth name is Heath Blaisedale."

"I am Optimus Prime." The mech said in return.

"Arcee." The femme said shortly.

Deciding to take a leap of faith, the Kryptonians walked out of the warehouse with the Cybertronians. Maybe they'd get lucky and find Skyfire and Mag-Gi faster with some help.


	6. Hope Springs Eternal

**Chapter 6: Hope Springs Eternal**

Lori was set on the floor of the Nemesis ship and looked at the girl in the stasis escape pod. They'd both been twelve when they went to sleep, but while Lori had aged to 14, Alexis still looked the same. She brushed away the dirt on the side and felt for the hatch, for something must have been blocking the mechanism that opened the pod as soon as they were clear.

Lori had woken up in a lake after her pod had been drudged up from the ground under the water so she knew how terrifying it could be to wake to something so strange and out of their comfort zone. Miles never told her where he'd woken up, but not for lack of trying on her part. The black-haired girl felt the indent in the side and brushed away the dirt ingrained in it and backed up as the pod let out a hiss before opening and Alexis opened her bright green eyes.

What made her eyes widen was when she took in how old Lori looked. _"Lori Lan? What…?"_ she trailed off in Kryptonian and suddenly she remembered that their planet, their_ home_ was gone. She started to choke and curled into herself, wrapping her arms around her white clothed knees and let out a sob.

Lori tentatively walked up to her and put a hand on Alexis' shoulder, never having properly grieved when she awoke because she'd been too busy thinking she was drowning. She felt Alexis pull her in her arms and bury her face into her shoulder and Lori gently patted the girl on the back.

Feeling very aware of the fact they were being watched, Lori looked up at the Vehicons in the shadows. "Get out." She said and flashed her eyes red for emphasis and watched them slink away. They must have thought it was better than possibly finding out if Lori could turn them into pretzels.

For the first time with someone other than Miles, Lori wrapped her arms around Alexis and squeezed back without hearing the sound of bones breaking.

* * *

"Skyfire, I can't believe we actually found you!" Heath cried happily as she stared up at the large white and red mech.

The mech 'blinked' as he looked down at the redhead and he smiled patiently at her. "I am glad to see you too Blaise." He replied courtesy before his gaze roved over the other Kryptonians, pointedly not looking at the other Cybertronians for the moment as this was a_ reunion_ after all. Just seeing the survivors helped ease some of the guilt he felt for feeling like he'd failed them. "Blu, Sephie."

"Skyfire." Both Sephie and Aaron intoned.

"Where's Mag-Gi?" Sephie questioned and took a quick glance around.

"That's the most incredible thing, she left with Will-Len," Skyfire replied and the three Kryptonians all stared at him, "his mate Sara Li is awake also, as well have they found Ironhide."

"Ironhide?" Optimus questioned.

"Yes, do you know of him?" Skyfire asked, but before a reply could be made, a missile hit somewhere dangerously close to the end of the group of 'Bots and they all looked up to notice a squadron of jets and on the ground was a red car driving in fast. "Why are they attacking us?" he asked surprised.

"Decepticons." Arcee growled and one of her servos shifted into a cannon.

The Prime looked down at the three Kryptonians. "Will you be able to carry him?"

"Sure." Aaron replied and Optimus pressed the side of his helm.

"Ratchet, requesting ground bridge immediately." He said and moments later a spiral of green appeared behind Skyfire, the three Kryptonians stared at it before Optimus' voice snapped them out of it. "We will cover you until you have gotten him through." He said as he and the other Autobots returned fire on the Decepticons and the three organics all lifted Skyfire off the floor and hurried toward the green spiral.

"Wait, what about Mag-Gi?" he asked.

Sephie bit her lip, her expression truly regretful. "I'm sorry Skyfire, but you heard the mech. And she's safer with Will than here, that's for sure." She said and the three of them carried the mech into the green swirl, coming out the other side in a base of some kind and her eyes locked onto someone, her expression changing to relief and confusion. "Jackie, what are you doing here?"

* * *

Miles watched the green swirl disappear, his fists clenching as he glared out of the windshield; they'd just_ missed_ Skyfire and the bigger blow was that three other Kryptonians had_ helped_ them. "I can't believe this." He said through his teeth.

Override stopped as Starscream landed, Miles seeing his murderous glare at the warehouse through the window. "I didn't see Mag-Gi with them." She said.

Miles' lips thinned. "I can only hope she escaped then."

Starscream looked down at Override, but his eyes bore into Miles like he thought this was _his_ fault somehow. "You," he said and his voice held such tranquillity to it that Miles found it unsettling, "why didn't you_ do_ anything?"

Miles stared back incredulously. "When _could_ have I reacted?" he shot back. "I didn't know the Autobots could do that, something _you_ failed to mention. If I had known then I could have acted faster and saved him from them."

"Well you didn't and now they have him; you still have your kin out there." Starscream retorted.

Miles decided it was better _not_ to piss off the mech who was letting them stay with them and though he found the logic insane and probably the seeker trying to past blame onto someone else for _not_ mentioning such a glaring way of escape for the enemy, he gritted his teeth to bite back a retort; because Starscream was right about one thing, his aunt was still out there at least. "How can I make it up to you?"

Miles saw Starscream flex his talons and for a second, he thought the seeker was going to attack, but he merely exhaled out of his vents. "You two will go back to Knock Out and convince the good doctor to go to the Nemesis."

"But my aunt's still out there." Miles retorted.

"Then you'd better convince him quickly." Starscream retorted. "I will be a waiting for his comm. call if you do." He added before transforming and taking off, the Vehicons following after him.

Miles pursed his lips again as in the short time they'd been acquainted they hadn't gotten along. This wasn't going to be easy, was it? "Well crap."

* * *

"Hey, Ironhide, how ya been?" Maggie asked as she landed on the ground, Will walking over to the porch to give his wife a hug.

"I have been well, Mag-Gi." Ironhide replied. "Where's Skyfire?"

Maggie bit her lips momentarily. "Will and Skyfire convinced me he'd been fine and that I would be able to see you and Sara Li."

"And here I am." Sarah called and Maggie was about to move when she noticed the woman's stomach and her eyes widened.

"You're pregnant?" she questioned.

Sarah smiled a bit patronizingly. Hadn't Maggie seen pregnant women before? "What does it look like? 'Cause I don't got a pillow under here." She said placing a hand on her stomach.

"If it makes you feel better, I was shocked too." Ironhide added.

Maggie blinked before feeling the corners of her lips quirk up and looked back at Ironhide as she patted the red mech's hood in thanks. She looked over at Sarah a second time and this time moved forward, extending her arms as she hugged the woman. "This is…a surprise."

Sarah laughed heartily. "Well, just think; maybe you'll even get to have a baby of your own."

Will winced and Maggie stiffened, her expression closing off. "I already have a niece and nephew, and I think I've neglected finding them long enough." She said chillily before turning on her heel and walking away.

"You mean you_ haven't_ looked for them?" Sarah questioned and Maggie stopped. "I'd think you'd want to find them first; but I suppose this explains why you didn't mention them in your SOS." She said in an off-handed way.

Maggie's shoulder started to shake and clenched her fists, her breathing starting to pick up and her eyes glowed red as she glowered off into the distance. The blonde counted to 10 in her mind before she responded, though it turned out she didn't have to reply.

"Sarah, this isn't any of your business." Will said shortly and Maggie stopped glowering.

"This isn't any of yours either; so, butt out." Sarah replied and poked Will in the chest. "And shouldn't you be at work or something right now?"

Will looked over at Maggie. "I…have to go." He said apologetically before he walked down the porch and over to his car.

"I…should go too." Maggie said in a clipped tone as she floated off the ground.

"Wait," Ironhide called and Maggie paused to look down at him, "if it would be acceptable, I would like to see Skyfire myself."

Maggie blinked and looked in Will's direction, but he just shrugged. "Hey, 'Hide doesn't need my permission to do anything. He wants to go somewhere, he can go."

"Well alright then." Maggie said as she flew down and picked Ironhide up by the side before gently maneuvering the mech so she was holding him from the underside. "You want me to run or fly."

"Fly if you may, I want to see what those seekers were always making a big fuss over." Ironhide said and Maggie laughed genially.

"You got it then." She said and took off into the air.

Will watched them go and looked over at his wife. "And next time we see another Kryptonian, please don't offend them."

Sarah blinked. "Why would Maggie be offended by what I said? It's obvious she didn't bother looking for those kids."

_"I CAN STILL HEAR YOU, YOU BITCH!"_

Sarah crossed her arms, frowning deeply in disapproval. "She may be a hundred, but she still acts like a teenager shirking their responsibilities."

"See," Will pointed out, "it's the stuff you're implying that's going to make one of them deck you."

* * *

Jack could feel the eyes and optics on him, but all he could hear was the blood thumping in his ears as he stood frozen like a deer in the headlights, not even reacting when he saw Sephie and the two Kryptonians with her place the white mech down and she ran over to him, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly.

"Really though, Jackie, what are you doing here?" she asked again.

Arcee seemed to snap out of it first as he looked between him and Sephie. "Jack, you know her?"

"Of course he does!" Sephie said cheerily as Jack wasn't to incline to speak at the moment. "He's my nephew, don't you see any resemblance? Then again he always did look more like his dad than June."

"June's a Kryptonian too?" Arcee asked shocked. "She never showed…"

"We're very careful not to." Jack replied quietly, as this was not the way he wanted anyone to find out.

Miko looked indignant suddenly. "Dude, why didn't you say anything?"

"I did say it earlier." Jack retorted and shrugged out of Sephie's arms before sprinting out of the room, not being able to face them right now.

Sephie watched him go, a growing look of confusion and horror slowly crossing her face. "Oh no, I said something I shouldn't have." She whispered and ran after Jack. "Jackie, wait! I'm sorry!"

There was a silence before Ratchet seemed to snap out of it first. "Alright, get the mech onto a berth." he said and the mech was helped onto one of the berths, which thankfully was big enough for him to lie on. He began scanning over him and the others were left to talk.

Miko though stared at both Aaron and Heath with wide eyes. "Wow! You two are _gorgeous!" _she gushed.

Heath beamed and Aaron raised a brow. "You should see the others." Aaron said nonchalantly.

"You _all_ look like this?" Miko questioned.

Aaron shook his head. "Of course we all don't look like this; well, we _are_ beautiful I'll grant you that, but we're still different."

Miko looked confused, but Raf spoke up. "I think he means they're like snowflakes, all different." He said and looked up at them. "How long have you been here?" he asked, but he was able to keep his excitement in. These were aliens sure, but what was so fascinating was that they looked just like humans and wondered if they could age like them too.

"Well, I've been awake for about 20 years." Aaron replied and Heath spoke up next.

"And me and Sephie have been awake for like 12 years." She explained.

"Neither of you look very old." Raf replied.

"That's how our bodies work," Aaron explained, "we can live as long as your sun lives because our bodies absorb the energy which manifests into our powers." He said and heard a beeping sound before reaching into his pocket and pulled out a pager. "My boss needs me, is there any way out?"

"I will escort you to the exit," The Prime said and looked over at Heath, "will you be departing as well?"

Heath shook her head. "Nah, I'll leave when Sephie, like, comes back."

"Very well." Optimus said and looked back at Aaron. "Follow me, if you will." He said and the brunet trailed after the Prime and waited until they were a ways from the others before he spoke. "Skyfire mentioned a mech by the name of Ironhide, is it true he was one of your survivors?"

Aaron nodded. "Yeah, 'Hide came to Krypton because of the military he was intrigued by, but he stayed because he got close to Will-Len. Why do you want to know?"

"Back on Cybertron, before he left…he was my friend." Optimus replied solemnly and Aaron didn't need to ask him to elaborate. There was a moment of pause before the questions continued. "How many other Cybertronians were with you when you all escaped Krypton's destruction?"

"If you're also asking how many other Cybertronians might have died on Krypton, none, 'cause they all took off since they thought the planet really was in danger of going boom. The only ones who stayed in the end were 4 Cybertronians, and that's 'cause they all had an attachment to someone." Aaron snorted. "It was almost 3 and no escape for us if Starscream had managed to convince Skyfire to leave too."

Prime had stopped and looked sharply down at Aaron. "Starscream?" he repeated.

Aaron shrugged. "Some seeker scientist that went along with Skyfire to places; you could ask June about him if you want, she seemed to be the only thing other than the technology he liked about our planet. Well… 'til June got married anyway, then it was one thing."

"I will...take into account what you have told me." Optimus said gravely as he began to think. Would things have turned out any differently or worse if the seeker had stayed been on earth this whole time? "May I inquire as to whom you were close to?"

"Her name's Flareup and we were almost nothing alike." Aaron said and a fond smile came over his face. "But she was my friend, and our differences made things interesting. I just hope she's still out there."

"If I may ask, why haven't you tried to find her?" Prime asked gently.

"I have," Aaron replied, "but…it hurts. That's the only way to describe the crushing despair that can come over you. That's why it's always better to keep an ear our and hope for the best, because going out and searching is just too painful; what you never find them? It's the reason I haven't gone out looking for Flareup or any of the other survivors; because just like with Mag-Gi and Skyfire, maybe we'll get a lucky break and it doesn't hurt so much anymore just to know that they_ are_ still alive somewhere." He finished with a sad smile.

* * *

In another part of the Autobot's silo, Jack was sitting in the dark and had his arms wrapped around his knees, and Sephie walked into the dark room. "Oh Jackie, I'm sorry." She apologized once more.

Jack felt the urge to snap back with a sarcastic quip about how he'd already heard her apologies, but decided against it seeing as it wouldn't do much good except make him feel even worse, his aunt didn't know he was there, so _of course_ she'd want to know why he was there in the first place. "It's not your fault, it's my own for not thinking ahead."

Sephie walked over to the teenager and sat down beside him before putting an arm around his shoulders. "No, I shouldn't have just blurted out what I was thinking; it was so stupid of me."

"You were surprised as I was." Jack said shrugging. "But now…I don't know how to face everyone now that they know. I spent so long keeping it from everyone that I'm not sure how to go about this."

Sephie 'hmmed' "Well, when I told Heath about me, she told me to prove it, and that's probably what you should; prove it and just get through it as best as you can. Believe me, there were times in my life when I almost gave up and thought trying to be optimistic about everything was stupid, but I didn't and I'm not going to let you fall into that same despair I almost did." She said and tightened her hold. "I promise I'll be here, just call me up and it'll be like _that."_ She said snapping her fingers.

"What about my mom?" Jack questioned.

"Trust me, I know my sister, deal with your friends first, _then_ Hurricane June." Sephie said and grinned. "Though just tell her I was the one to suggest this, it'll take the edge off from you."

"I couldn't do that to you." Jack retorted.

Sephie shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm use to fighting with my sisters, about clothes, boys, toys, all that stuff, so it doesn't really matter." She said. "But if you ever meet your Aunt Jessie, you'll see exactly how angry your mom can get."

"Is this girl really that bad?" Jack questioned perturbed by the tone his aunt was using.

Sephie chuckled darkly. "I love my sisters, even her, but Jessie can drive anyone crazy if you spend enough time with her, though she'll chew you up and spit you out before that'll ever happen."

Jack was starting to get an inkling of just how messed up his family might be. "So all families really are the same everywhere then?"

Sephie laughed and ruffled Jack's hair. "No, but ours is one with many secrets though." She said and rose to her feet and held out her hand. "So, think it times to face the music?"

Jack stared at the hand, truly feeling as though he was connecting with family that wasn't just his mom. He smiled shakily and grasped Sephie's hand. "No time like the present, right?"


	7. Walk This Way prt 1

**Chapter 7: Walk This Way prt 1**

Jack walked into the command center of the silo where the Autobots were and he noticed Miko and Raf talking to that redhead on the catwalk above. He felt Sephie's arm tighten around him as every eye turned toward them and he wanted nothing more than to return to the storage room he'd holed himself up in. "Uh...hi." he said nervously, like he was just meeting them for the first time.

Though in a way, that was true; they were meeting the 'real' him.

"Jack." Arcee said neutrally. "Is there any other secret you'd like to share?"

Jack winced. "Uh, no." he replied and gulped. "Look, I'm sorry for lying to you all about what I am, but I promised my mom."

"You seem pretty okay with doing it though." Bulkhead pointed out.

"Because my mom drilled into me about what the government might do to us if they found out, and I couldn't tell her anything because she'd freak if she knew." Jack replied. "And no, I didn't know about any of you having a connection with Krypton before all this."

No one said anything at first as they still seemed to trying to digest that he'd_ kept_ this from them, but surprisingly, after sitting up a little on the berth to get a better look at him, Skyfire spoke at last. "Hmm, you do look a lot like your father."

"Yes! He really does!" Heath added helpfully. "So much it's actually, like, kinda scary."

"How old is she supposed to be?" Jack whispered to his aunt.

Sephie slapped Jack upside the head. "That's my girlfriend you're making fun of."

Jack blushed. "Sorry." He mumbled.

"I for one," Ratchet said to gain their attention, "would like to see what the boy is capable of."

Jack raised a brow, nervousness fading and excitement starting to win out. He would_ finally_ be able to show off his powers? "I can't do _much_ at my age," he said lightly and walked over to a metal device that didn't look important, "but I can still do enough." He added before bending the metal.

"Jack! I needed that!"

* * *

"I don't like this, why couldn't I just make Starscream give us the coordinates to the ship before we left?" Miles groused after he ran back to California with Override to find Knock Out once again.

"Because doing that wouldn't have helped our situation and then there's the fact your sister is already on their ship." Override retorted.

Miles grimaced. "Still, I wish we could just skip this whole thing and Knock Out would just want to go back to the ship."

"True, but this is reality, and things work differently here." Override pointed out and she pulled into the abandoned lot that that Knock Out had taken them to previously. "Can you take a quick look around?"

"Sure thing." Miles said sullenly and got out of the car, using his speed to look around the lot, the whole process taking a matter of seconds to the human eye and when he got back he nodded in the direction of where the old building was. "He's with some other mech just on the other side."

"Right, let's go." Override replied and she started driving over to the building while Miles jogged beside her until they came to the other side and saw Knock Out with a hummer-type of vehicle with him.

Knock Out smirked as soon as he saw them but the mech with him looked suspicious. "So you've come back Blondie, and you've brought the pretty femme with you."

Miles scowled at him as he put his hand on Override's hood. "Back off Red or I'll fry you."

The blue and orange mech looked incredulously at Knock Out. "_This_ is one of the Kryptonians you were talking about? He looks so…_scrawny."_

"I can hear you!" Miles shot back looking offended, he might have been tall but he wasn't scrawny!

"Miles, remember what Starscream said." Override reminded him and Miles' shoulder sagged.

The blue mech and Knock Out immediately looked on alert by this information. "That seeker is here and he sent _you_ to come and get us?" The red mech questioned with disbelief.

"You know, for a good guy you sure do like to rile me up." Miles groused and the mech merely smirked back at him.

"You make it too easy to resist."

"See Miles, it's not just Lori saying you're too hotheaded." Override added and Miles sent her a wounded look before he gazed back at Knock Out with a look of determination on his face. "What'll it take for you to go to the ship yourself?"

"You still haven't told me what the big emergency is." Knock Out retorted.

"Starscream just said to get you to go back to the Nemesis, he wouldn't tell us why though, but he did say he'd be waiting for your comm. call." Override replied.

Knock Out exchanged a brief glance with the blue mech beside him before he dramatically rolled his optics and put one digit to his helm. "Commander Starscream-" he winced slightly and this time his optic roll seemed more annoyed-"right, _Lord_ Starscream, my mistake; you've sent your Blondie," the smirk directed at Miles seemed malicious, "I mean Kryptonian lackey to me _why?"_

Miles had clenched his fists but he went completely slack-jawed as Knock Out suddenly started _laughing_. He saw Override jerk in surprise but the blue mech had no reaction to this rather abrupt change in the red mech's attitude.

"Sorry _Lord_ Starscream," Knock Out retorted mockingly, "but I only take orders from Lord Megatron, and last I checked, you're not him." he said before pulling his servo away from his helm.

Miles furrowed his brow. "Uh, Starscream told us that Megatron was dead, so shouldn't he be the leader then?"

Knock Out raised an optic ridge at this information but had no other reaction. "Starscream told you that did he?" he questioned and Miles nodded. The mech snorted in response. "Well he's lying; he's nothing but the second-in-command who fancies himself a leader."

Miles grimaced as he was starting to see where Knock Out's answers were going. "So you're not going back to the Nemesis then?" he asked and the red mech shook his helm. The blond looked worriedly at Override. "Well I just hope Lori doesn't freak out about us not showing up for a while then since I doubt Starscream's going to let us in the ship if we try to find them ourselves."

Not that he knew _where_ the ship was as he was betting the co-ordinates were something Starscream was going to give to Knock Out.

"Lori can handle herself," Override said firmly, "and I'm sure she'll be too distracted with Alexis to notice anything else."

* * *

When Alexis' sobs had slowly lessened, Lori lifted herself the other girl from the floor, pulling Alexis forward enough to close the hatch on the pod. Alexis had a strong grip on Lori's arm and rested her head on her shoulder, the fourteen year old not pushing the other girl back because this was just a natural reaction she herself had gone through. She'd rarely let Miles or Override out of her sight when she found them.

Alexis glanced up at Lori hazily through red, puffy eyes. _"Where's your brother?" _she asked in Kryptonian.

_"He's with Override."_ Lori answered slowly and Alexis nodded. _"You tired?"_

_"Already slept for longer than I cared too,"_ Alexis muttered and finally took notice of where they were, _"what is this place?"_

_"It's a Cybertronian ship, our host Starscream is allowing us to stay here." _Lori replied. _"Miles and Override are only allowed to come back when they find this mech we met before."_

_"Then I'm glad it's you and not him that stayed behind."_ Alexis said darkly and absently reached up to touch the shoulder-length strands of her hair. _"What's been going on then?"_

Lori looked anxiously down at Alexis, wondering if it was for the best to relay to her what had happened. "_Why don't we go explore the ship first? Being in here brings back memories of Skyfire."_

_"Granted those moments were not _pleasant_ memories."_ Alexis added and Lori had the decency to look ashamed of this reminder.

_"He still has our stuff."_ She said in realization. _"I hope he and Aunt Mags are alright."_

Alexis' eyes lit up with interest. _"Are they awake?"_ she asked and Lori nodded. Alexis' eyes dimmed as she looked down at the ground, glancing over the white material of her slippers. On Krypton it was mostly an unwritten tradition that women wore white while men wore silver, though looking over Lori's black and red outfit it seemed on Earth that wasn't the case. _"Is anyone else awake?"_

_"I'm not sure."_ Lori said honestly. _"But I do not envy the reactions they are going to have."_

Alexis blushed and she glowered indignantly at Lori. _"I'll throw you off the ship if you say that again."_

Lori blinked and belatedly realized just how insensitive her remark was; just because her own sorrow had been repressed until after finding Miles didn't mean she had to rub it in to those whose feelings of horror and despair were upfront about it. She'd never seen Miles cry, but she could still hear things through the thin walls of their house. _"I'm sorry, um, let's keep going."_

Alexis nodded sharply and they walked down the purple lit hall, both of them looking overhead and Lori had to wonder if they were being avoided on purpose or if they were simply in a spot that didn't get much traffic.

She just figured a ship would be a bit more crowded.

* * *

The smile on Maggie's face when she set Ironhide down faded as she saw debris on the ground and rushed inside the warehouse and saw that Skyfire was nowhere to be found. The tarps were strewn across the floor and Maggie felt something bubbling up in her chest and she let out a disparaging scream before she slammed her foot down on the floor in anger. She heard the cracking around her and went ridged as the building collapsed on her.

Outside, Ironhide saw the destruction after feeling the ground shake beneath his wheels and transformed, rushing toward the fallen building to pull the debris away. "Mag-Gi? Where are you? Skyfire?"

He pulled a part of the roof back to see Maggie standing there covered in dust, a defeated expression on her face. "Skyfire's not here, someone must have taken him. I knew I shouldn't have left, I could have protected him if I had only stayed."

"It's not your fault." Ironhide replied somewhat uncomfortable as he wasn't good with dealing with emotional women. "Even if ya stayed it probably couldn't have been helped."

Maggie snorted but could still see the effort put into the words. "I should have said 'screw the discretion' and just taken Skyfire with us; who knows where he is now."

Ironhide's expression went serious as he thought about what _might_ have happened. "If it was humans _or_ other aliens, then why don't I call him?"

Maggie's eyes lit up briefly before they dimmed. "That's a great idea, but I don't know if Skyfire's communication will work." She said and shook her head. "I'm going to send out another distress signal."

"Are you sure that's safe?" Ironhide questioned.

Maggie smiled in self-deprecation. "I would suggest we let you try to call Skyfire and we could track it, but I don't know how to do that; all I've had time to work on was distress signals because that's what I've been waiting for all these years, my expertise was language, not technology."

Ironhide stared down at the woman incredulously. "Your species is as advanced as my own, and you don't _know_ how to use it?"

Maggie flushed and rose from the ground to be at optic level, her face twisting up in anger. "You were military, so don't bring not knowing how things work up to _me_. All you probably know is how to shoot things."

Ironhide glared back at the blonde. "Do your second distress message, but if we're going that route, don't mention me. My just 'knowing how to shoot things' can still be an advantage in case any less than savory company shows up."

Maggie raised a brow. "Like humans with guns?"

Ironhide didn't look amused though. "Yes, we need to still be careful."

Maggie sighed and nodded and landed back on the ground. "Let's get back to my outpost, try to keep up." She said before sprinting across the dusty ground, Ironhide transforming and driving after her.

* * *

Jack felt the heat of the stares on him shift when Ratchet looked at the main console, his expression vaguely surprised. "Optimus, there's another message being broadcasted."

"Play it, Ratchet." Optimus said and the medic let the message be heard throughout the main room.

_"Skyfire...I don't know where you are, but please be able to hear this message. I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to protect you; I should never have left you! I…I just need to know you're alive, so if whoever has you hears this, bring proof it's him. Be at the Arctic in one hour."_

On that note the message went dead and Optimus ventilated in a sigh. "She must believe you are in danger." He said to Skyfire.

The shuttle clenched his fists. "She shouldn't blame herself; I was the one who encouraged her to leave."

"Why would she pick the Arctic?" Arcee questioned aloud.

"That's where I was buried, she must mean my tomb." Skyfire replied and reached into subspace to take out a small datapad and handed it over to Optimus. "It's the roster of who was saved from Krypton, she saw me put it into subspace. Use it to prove that I'm safe. Oh, and I think I should give this to you now." he added and pulled out a blue diamond shaped-object and held it out to Sephie, who stood alone by Jack after Heath had fled the base because she had forgotten about a class she had to teach.

Sephie's eyes widened and she floated off the ground toward Skyfire's outstretched hand, behind Jack, Miko and Raf were staring in wonder, though for Jack it was because this was something he was _eventually_ going to be able to do. "You saved this?" she asked and Skyfire nodded.

"I did, and I saved all the other belongings before I crashed." He replied.

Sephie smiled and hugged one of Skyfire's digits. "This is terrific."

"What is that?" Jack asked and Sephie flew down to him.

"This is our Fortress of Solitude, it can only be activated by El DNA, and it holds most kinds of our technology." Sephie answered and her smile widened. "We find someplace to put this and you can see just what our home planet was like."

"A whole fortress is in that little crystal?" Bulkhead questioned dubiously and 'Bee beeped in his own surprise.

Sephie nodded. "It's quite convenient actually. Now Skyfire, take everything else out, I know June packed a picture of Jack's daddy in there and I think she would like him to see it."

Jack flushed as Sephie threw an arm around him and Skyfire complied. Miko and Raf came to stand by them and watched the contents being carefully taken out before Sephie leapt up onto the berth and she started to search through the pile.

While the three children were waiting for Sephie to complete her task, Optimus looked around at his team. "I do not think Mag-Gi will trust us if we all leave."

"What if the Decepticons show up though? They probably heard that message too." Bulkhead pointed out.

Optimus considered this for a moment before he nodded. "Bulkhead, Arcee, you will come with me." He said and Bumblebee let out a buzz of disappointment. "This is for the best Bumblebee." He added and the yellow mech reluctantly nodded.

"Be careful, if Ironhide is with Maggie, he's likely to shoot first and ask questions later if they think you're lying." Skyfire warned ominously.

Optimus glanced over at Skyfire and nodded, the shuttle having no idea he knew that better than anyone how Ironhide acted.

* * *

Though he could use some energon and wondered where those Kryptonian girls were and fuming at Knock Out's arrogance, Starscream's previous moods were pushed aside in favor of the message Soundwave had intercepted that held Mag-Gi's plea for Skyfire to be safe. Immediately he thought of how to go about this and use it to his advantage. He couldn't show her that _he_ had Skyfire, but if he had something from Lori Lan then Mag-Gi would follow him without question and _then_ they could plot to get Skyfire back.

Sending out a command to bring Lori Lan to him, Starscream waited and continued to go through the possible scenarios he could initiate. Undoubtedly those accursed Autobots already heard the same broadcast and were going to be the Arctic in the same hour, but even if he showed up late he could still use it to suit his means.

Though he didn't _know_ Mag-Gi very well, at best hearing her referenced by both Skyfire and Jun-El, even he could tell that the woman cared for her kin very much and wanting to keep them safe would take precedence over anything else-even if it meant leaving Skyfire. He hated to admit it, but with Skyfire so out of the loop he probably _would_ be safer with the Autobots for the moment, but he knew Skyfire's loyalty to him was like Mag-Gi's love for her kin, unyielding.

And no matter how much Autobots spiel Skyfire was going to hear would change that.

Starscream heard footsteps on the floor and looked down to see Lori Lan and the Alexis girl holding onto her, both stopping just short of in front of him. He made sure his features were as disarming as possible because this was going to require a delicate touch if he didn't want it backfiring. "I have some good news."

Lori Lan looked up at him with interest. "What is it? Did you find Aunt Mags?"

"You could say that…"


	8. Walk This Way prt 2

**Chapter 8: Walk This Way prt 2**

Miles anxiously paced around the abandoned parking lot after Override relayed to him that his aunt was going to the Arctic to make sure Skyfire was safe. He didn't know what to do; instinct wanted him to go to the Arctic himself but who knew how that would go. He looked up at the femme for help, as he didn't want to screw things up. "Any ideas?"

"She's your aunt, Miles." Override pointed out.

Miles' shoulders sagged in disbelief before he straightened up. "I suppose we can count on Starscream being in the Arctic too, but seeing as _someone," _he cast Knock Out a pointed glance, which the mech ignored, "won't go, I doubt very much Starscream's gonna let us on the ship so I might only get to see Aunt Mags just once." He said and frowned thoughtfully before he sighed. "But I'll take even that over never."

Override nodded and gently picked up Miles before brushing his hair back with a digit, a soft expression slowly crossing his face as he relaxed in the femme's grasp. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that, and with me you go even faster." Miles said and grinned at her.

The blue mech who'd Miles heard Knock Out call 'Breakdown' looked between the blond and Override. "How does this even work?"

Surprisingly, Knock Out didn't roll his optics as he replied instead of Miles or Override. "You didn't think Krypton was known _just_ for its technology, did you?"

Breakdown rolled his optics. "I know _that_, what I want to know is _how_ they could do it."

Miles felt his jaw drop in disbelief when he realized what they were taking about and he saw the way Override's faceplate seemed to heat up at the words, no doubt there was a blush on his own face. "We're right here!" he sputtered indignantly.

"Good, then you can explain it to us." Knock Out deadpanned and Miles' face flushed even redder.

"That's none of your business!" he hissed and Override made a sound of disgust.

"Let's go Miles, maybe Starscream will even let us stay when he finds out he dodged a bullet." She said and set Miles down to transform.

Miles huffed as he glowered at Knock Out, who only smirked back at him, before he picked up Override. "May we never have to see each other again." Miles snarked as he glared at the red mech.

Knock Out's smirk widened as he stared evenly back at him. "Don't worry, we'll be here when Starscream sends you away."

Miles grimaced and decided to get out of there so he didn't have to say anything more.

* * *

"Scrap Mag-Gi, why'd you choose this place?" Ironhide grumbled as he transformed and started up his cannons just in case they _did_ have to fight. It never hurt to have them on stand-by.

"It's a special place in a morbid way." Maggie said and waved her hand to encompass the entire landscape before them, the hole where she dug Skyfire out of just fifty feet in front of them. She looked up at the mech and then to the cave they'd fashioned out of the ice pillar on the cliff for him to wait in. Any one not thinking much of it would only assume she'd been waiting in it from the cold. "Just be ready to fight if it comes to that."

Ironhide snorted. "I've been doing this before you were even born."

Maggie grinned sardonically at him. "I have no doubts about that." She said before her grin fell and looked anxiously out at the landscape. "Here we go." She muttered and made her way to the tomb where Skyfire had been buried. She kept her eyes and ears out for any sign that someone was near.

What she was not expecting was for a green, swirling vortex to appear. She flinched back in surprise but held her hand up to stop Ironhide from potentially blowing his cover. This was certainly a method of travel she had not considered. She watched three taller metal figures come through the spiral, one red and blue, another green, and the third was blue as well.

"You have Skyfire?" Maggie questioned as she decided to get straight to the point.

The red and blue Cybertronian stepped forward as the spiral disappeared. "Yes, Mag-Gi, he said to give you this if you did not believe us." He said kneeling down to hold out a datapad.

Maggie's eyes widened and she tentatively walked forward to take the pad and quickly checked to make sure this was legitimate by looking for her and Skyfire's names and found them crossed out and checked over the other names to make sure there was nothing funny about them. "Is he _really_ okay?"

"He is still frozen partially but he is stable." The blue and red mech replied.

Maggie nodded. "Who are you? I don't recognize any of you."

"I am Optimus Prime," The lead mech stated and gestured to the green mech next, "this is Bulkhead," and then to the blue femme, "and this is Arcee."

Bulkhead looked around, his optics narrowing. "Skyfire said something about someone called Ironhide being with you?"

Maggie tensed momentarily and she heard the faint whine of cannons being charged, but no one _else_ knew that Ironhide was with her except Skyfire. And she believed he would not have told them if he thought they weren't safe. Maggie held up a hand and looked back at the pillar. "It's alright, Ironhide."

The red mech snorted as he stepped out of the ice pillar, his optics going over the three Cybertronians as though he was sizing each of them up to assess what threat they could pose. His gaze landed on Optimus and he narrowed his optics at him. "You're a Prime huh? Shouldn't you be on Cybertron instead of here?"

Maggie furrowed her brow when she noticed how Arcee and Bulkhead tensed and Optimus look at Ironhide gravely. "There is much you are both unaware of."

Maggie and Ironhide exchanged a glance, but before either could speak, the blonde noticed a jet flying overhead and she used her X-ray vision to see if it had a human on board. If it did then they were going to have to cut this little meeting short, but to her relief she saw it was empty. "It's a seeker." She breathed as the closest thing to a seeker she'd seen was Skyfire.

Ironhide snorted at her tone but was momentarily confused by the way the three Cybertronians tensed as the seeker landed on top of the ice pillar and transformed.

The seeker's optics locked onto Maggie and he smirked. "Mag-Gi, I presume."

"What do you want, Starscream?" Optimus questioned.

Before the seeker could answer, something resonated in Maggie's mind as soon as she heard the same; the image of Skyfire fondly talking of a seeker who travelled with him came to mind. "You're Skyfire's partner, aren't you? He talked about you a lot."

_"Lab_ partner," Starscream said exasperatedly, as though he was tired of correcting others of this, "and he spoke of you as well. It seems we finally met at last." His expression turned grave as he looked at the scene before him like he was truly taking in what he saw for the first time. "Mag-Gi," he said urgently, "I strongly suggest you get away from those…_Autobots_."

Maggie's eyes widened slightly and looked back at three Cybertronians before she gazed once more at Starscream. "'Autobots'? What are you talking about? What's going on?"

"Don't listen to a word he says, he's nothing but a lying 'Con!" Bulkhead snapped.

Starscream placed a servo over his chest. "Who do you trust, Mag-Gi, these Autobots you don't know or have any _loyalty_ for, or me; I would never lie to you, Skyfire cared too much for you for me to even _think_ about doing that."

"He's lying right now!" Bulkhead snapped once more.

"Bulkhead, that's not helping!" Arcee cut in sharply.

"And," Starscream continued as if he wasn't interrupted, "what about Miles and Lori, or even Alexis?"

Maggie was suddenly off the ground and in front of Starscream's faceplate in a blink of an eye, her face twisted up in an expression crossed between anguish and anger. "You'd better talk fast, seeker." She hissed warningly and her eyes had turned red.

"I found your kin looking for you, while I had discovered Alexis shortly earlier, Override was with them." Starscream said hastily, Maggie's red eyes slowly turning back their original color, though they still narrowed.

"Prove you have them." She said and Starscream reached into subspace before taking out a datapad of his own and held it out to Maggie. The blonde took it and scrutinized the sight of her niece with Alexis clutching her harm, both looking fine despite the dark background. "Where are Miles and Override?"

"I…sent them away, for their own good-though they did agree to it!" Starscream replied quickly when Maggie glared at him.

The woman looked back down at the photo, her eyes sad and she felt torn about what to do. Should she or shouldn't she?

"Skyfire will be fine." Starscream said too low for any other of the others to hear him, but Maggie did, and looked at him to see if he truly could believe that and if she should believe _him_ about it to.

She did.

"Ironhide," Maggie said after giving Starscream a nod and he backed away before taking off, "we're leaving."

"Follow the seeker?" Ironhide questioned and transformed after making sure the Autobots were still standing where they were.

"Follow the seeker." Maggie confirmed and the two of them trailed off after Starscream.

* * *

"I can't believe she actually _believed_ Starscream." Arcee muttered as they watched the blonde and the red mech follow after the Decepticon.

"Starscream has her kin, we have nothing but a datapad and Skyfire's say so." Optimus said before he raised his servo to his helm. "Ratchet, open a groundbridge."

"You'd think after sending out that message she'd be more concerned about Skyfire than abandoning him." Bulkhead added.

"Perhaps there is something we are missing." Optimus replied before the groundbridge opened behind them.

The three of them walked through it, the first thing that was noticeable was Skyfire leaning a bit forward and craned his neck as he tried to see if they had anyone following them out. When the bridge closed and no others had followed, Skyfire seemed to visibly deflate.

"They did not show or they did not believe you?" Skyfire questioned and then looked them over for any signs of canon blasts or dents made from human-sized fists, but there wasn't a scratch on them.

"They showed up alright, and so did your old buddy Starscream." Bulkhead said with an accusatory glance at Skyfire.

The shuttle blinked in surprise. "Starscream was there?"

"You know a 'Con?" Miko asked in disbelief.

"A what?" Skyfire questioned in confusion before he shook his helm. "Starscream and Maggie are my friends; she would have trusted him because I trusted him."

"You sound awfully sure about that, but your _friend_ left you." Arcee replied.

"Starscream told her he had her kin with him." Optimus added.

Skyfire's optics held sudden recognition and let out a soft "Ah," which Sephie had echoed. "Maggie was to have become their caregiver; when I met them while we were in space they asked me whether I was going to be helping her."

There was a sort of disbelief as Sephie looked up at Skyfire wide-eyed. "You're her _mate_? We knew you two were close, but I didn't think-"

"No, you misunderstand," Skyfire cut in firmly, "we _are_ close, but it is not like that."

Sephie backed off, though she did look doubtful and decided to steer the conversation back to something more relevant, only to realize there was nothing else to say about this. "Maggie made her choice and so did Ironhide, that's all there is to it."

* * *

Though he could do it in alt-mode, Starscream would have smirked if he was able to, but even then it would have looked too suspicious. The Autobots _had_ come after all, but with a well-placed lie and making her believe the one thing _he_ truly did, she had fallen for what he said and brought along the grounder. That he was not too pleased with, but it meant more troops to manipulate in the end.

"Aunt Mags!" A sharp voice called out and Starscream nearly fell out of the sky from shock.

_What were Miles and Override doing there?_

Starscream cursed internally as he flew down to the ground as Miles threw his arms around the woman and she hugged him back. The blonde pulled back and gently brushed his hair out of his face.

"You've grown since the last time I saw you." Mag-Gi said softly.

Miles nodded. "You…kinda look the same though." He said awkwardly.

Mag-Gi chuckled and embraced him once more before she looked at the boy in confusion. "Starscream said he sent you and Override away though."

Miles cast a dark glance at Starscream, looking grumpy about being sent back to Knock Out. "He did." He replied and said no more. "But Override heard your message and I couldn't let this chance to see you slip by."

"Well soon we'll all be together again." Mag-Gi said and Miles winced but Starscream spoke up before the boy could blow his carefully constructed half-truth and lies. "You will need to wait a little longer, they cannot come back to ship for now."

Mag-Gi glowered at him. "You said you sent them away, so why wouldn't they be allowed to come back?"

Starscream knew whatever trust the woman had placed in him was based solely on the fact they both knew Skyfire, not because of _him_ and he didn't need to give her any reason to doubt his words. It would be difficult with the boy right there as he'd made it obvious he nor the femme were allowed to return until they convinced Knock Out to come back.

"They are safer where they are," he said and Miles snorted, "I might have been a bit…rash with how I proceeded, but the Autobots had taken Skyfire and with the Kryptonians _they_ had it would have been far too dangerous to keep them here. Lori Lan volunteered to come back to the ship to take care of Alexis, I mean none of you harm."

Miles' lips thinned. "Well then you must really like Skyfire." He said offhandedly.

Starscream knew he was referring to the fact he felt like attacking him for not saving Skyfire when he should have in the _first place_. "Yes, yes I do." He replied calmly. "Now when you're done we should be getting back to the ship."

* * *

"I don't get it, why would Maggie go with a 'Con?"

Sephie glanced at Jack after looking around at the scenery from the back of the motorbike; it was weird not travelling around on her own two feet; though this reprieve at least wasn't going to add to the damage of her shoes. "Mags cares about her family. How do you deal with your shoe problem?"

Jack cringed at the sudden change in topic. "_What?"_ he asked sharply.

"For long distances I usually take off my shoes to keep them from wearing out, you know, so I don't have to keep buying more shoes." Sephie explained.

"Uh, well you see, I've never gone farther than school, so I wouldn't really have that problem." Jack replied.

"Not _yet_ you don't." Sephie retorted.

Jack shrugged before looking down at the dashboard of his guardian. "So, Arcee, you really didn't have to come back with us."

"It would bring up too many questions with your mother." Arcee said in a clipped tone.

"We could just tell mom about you guys, Sephie said she'd take the heat for it." Jack replied and Sephie nodded.

"I would, but I do have to admit this is going to be a little tricky when she finds out Starscream is a _bad guy_." Sephie said rolling her eyes as if she couldn't believe it.

"He _is_ a bad guy." Arcee said firmly. "Whoever you knew before is not _him."_

"June is going to be hard to convince, the two of them were close." Sephie said.

"Maggie and Skyfire close?" Jack asked nervously.

Sephie gave Jack a look of pity. "Yes, like them. Though I think June's marriage to your father might have killed it because I heard Starscream yelling at June when she told him. Ria told her it probably wasn't a good idea."

"Who?" Jack asked confused.

"Oh, Ria-Zee, she's your cousin on your father's side." Sephie said. "We can get it sorted out when we get back to your house about what we're going to do. Though perhaps we should hold off on mentioning the Autobots for a little while and just stick to the other Kryptonians for now; this is a lot to take in after all."

Jack tried to crane his neck to look back at Sephie, but she just held his helmet in place. "Right, eyes on the road, I get it."

* * *

Miles grimaced at the sight of Knock Out's smug faceplate as he and Override came back. "If you say _anything…_"

"Me?" Knock Out questioned looking offended. "Why, have I said anything, Breakdown?"

"Don't drag me into this." The blue mech grumbled.

"Though since you _have _returned, might you know a place to get energon from?" Knock Out questioned.

Miles scowled at him. "Why don't you go find some yourself Red."

"Miles, we have to be nice, remember?" Override reminded him.

The blond sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know." He grumbled and gestured for the two mechs to follow. "Come on, Lori and I found this mine for Override to take energon from, two more shouldn't be a problem."

"You found an actual energon mine? On this mudball?" Knock Out questioned.

"You don't have to come if that's how you're gonna be." Miles retorted and got into the driver's seat of Override's vehicle mode.

"Should we tell them about the green rocks and not to touch them?" Override questioned in concern.

"Only if they find more of them; those things sure did make me and Lori sick when we found them. How could we have thought those rocks were energon?" Miles asked.

"You were trying to help me, and a little sunlight fixed you both right back up." Override replied.

Miles chuckled. "Though I will admit it was cool to see you hurl those rocks into outer space."

"That's why you love me, right?" Override asked slyly.

Miles grinned slightly and patted the dashboard. "How can I not?"


End file.
